Janet's Continuing Love Affair

Ubud Readers and Writers Festival director Janet de Neefe is interviewed in the Australian about her continuing love affair with Bali, the sequel she's writing to her memoir/cookbook Fragrant Rice, which will be :

... a classic tale tracing three generations of women: her Balinese mother-in-law, herself and her two daughters, centring on the traditional v the modern

and of course about the festival which this year runs from October 7 to 11 with the theme Sorrow and Joy :

Now in its sixth year, the festival will run , examining the ability of the human spirit to triumph over adversity. Complemented by the culinary tradition of languorous meals served in magnificent settings, the litfest will feature the customary seminars, debates, book launches, panels, performances and workshops. Debates on environmental issues and the rise of fundamentalism - touching on Islam in Indonesia, globalisation, censorship of the media, world poverty and the effects of the country's new anti-pornography law - will all be par for the course. De Neefe encourages local writers where she can and supports efforts to have Indonesian writing translated into English for publication overseas.

The line up is (as usual) amazing and (tentatively, because we all know how these things go) :

Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee, Wole Soyinka, Hari Kunzru, Ed Husain, 2007 Orange prizewinner Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nuruddin Farah and Australians Geraldine Brooks and Michelle de Kretser will all be present.

I hope the publicity in Australia will pull in some much needed sponsorship money for the festival which Janet, and her husband Ketut Suardana, put a great deal of their own money into.

Want to attend the festival this year? Hint - now's a good time to book your AirAsia cheapie flight!

(Pic is a photo I took at the festival last year.)