Spotify to ‘host’ George Town Literary Festival 2020

GEORGE TOWN — The annual George Town Literary Festival (GTLF) goes digital this year, with the literature pieces being recorded to be released on Spotify during the festival from November 26 to 29, 2020. 

As the arts industry faces the possibility of being silenced amid the Covid-19 pandemic, GTLF looks to emerge from it by looking at the role of literature and art in a time of crisis. Aptly named “Through the Looking Glass”, it hopes to probe the condition of the world and imagine new possibilities through the listening of literary work.

This year, GTLF will embrace online conversations, abiding by the “new normal” by offering a fresh, socially relevant programme that includes a series of specially curated podcasts and videos in both English and Bahasa Malaysia. The line-up of speakers will feature many local writers and translators along with Southeast Asian and international authors. The podcasts will feature 18 English and 12 Malay titles that include one-on-one conversations with writers, panel discussion with a group of writers, poetry reading and radio drama.

The notable headliners that will be featured include award-winning Malaysian novelist Fatimah Busu, Malaysian actress Sharifah Amani, bestselling Penang-based novelist Fahmi Mustaffa, and winner of the 2020 Epigram Books Fiction Prize, Joshua Kam. It will also feature international guests such as legendary Filipino writer F. Sionil Jose and 2020 SEA Write Award winner Leila Chudori.

Penang State Exco for Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage (Petach) Yeoh Soon Hin was present during the unveiling of GTLF’s theme and special programmes. He said that the Penang2030 vision outlined the role and necessity of the arts in advancing the quality of life as well as encouraging civic participation.

“Penang has always been a passionate patron of the arts and continues to be a lively creative hub. In recent decades, aspects of creativity, culture and heritage have served as catalysts to spur local economic development, which has been at the forefront of the state’s policy agendas.”

Penang Convention and Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) chief executive officer Ashwin Gunasekaran said that although this is the 10th edition of the festival, the celebration is postponed to 2021. 

“There is a slight departure from the usual formal way of running festivals, but we are not shying away from the 10th edition. We will focus on a greater 10th edition as we keep our fingers crossed, hoping that this (pandemic) would have settled,” he said during the press conference.

GTLF co-director Pauline Fan said that the yearly festival always looks to involve the current state of affairs with literature. Instead of looking at it from a pessimistic point-of-view, they have curated it to respond and reflect on the pandemic.

“We are looking to start the conversation and having it online will make it more long-term, as opposed to when it is confined to during the festival. Because we have 30 podcasts, it is not something you need to sit down and listen over the weekend, but you can listen to it over the next six months or over the next year, even,” she said.

On how they will be able to track the visibility of the festival, co-director Sharaad Kuttan is positive that they will collect more data via online experiences through analytics that they could in a physical setting.

In the run-up to GTLF 2020, a themed writing contest was organised on the topic of life under lockdown during Covid-19, entitled ‘Wake Me Up When This Is Over’. It drew more than 330 submissions in English and Malay for both adult and student categories, twice the number the organisers anticipated. The pieces were judged by a panel led by Malaysian National Laureate Professor Muhammad Haji Salleh. The results were released in August.

As the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown a cloud of uncertainty on the arts industry, GTLF 2020 still hopes to organise several physical events in George Town and Kuala Lumpur in November, such as writing and translation workshops along with poetry readings.

GTLF is the largest annual literary festival in Malaysia. GTLF 2020 is curated by Festival co-directors Pauline Fan and Sharaad, and co-curator Izzuddin Ramli. GTLF is supported by the Penang State government and produced by PCEB. It is partially funded by the International Relief Fund of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut. It is supported further by the Embassy of France, Kinokuniya, Tintabudi Bookstores, Nusantara Audiobooks, Tun Perak Coop, Penang House of Music and other cultural organisations. – The Vibes, October 11, 2020.