LIKE many festivals affected by the pandemic, George Town Literary Festival 2020 will be held online this year. The theme for GTLF 2020 is Through the Looking Glass, which looks at the role of literature and art in a time of crisis. The programme offers more than 40 online sessions — podcasts, videos and live conversations, in English and BM.
As much of the world’s borders remain closed, GTLF 2020 will have a more local and regional focus. The line-up of speakers will feature many Malaysian and Penang writers and translators, as well as Southeast Asian and international authors.
The Vibes is thrilled to be the media partner for the first time. Apart from the main programme, GTLF is partnering with PEN Malaysia and the Swadaya Collective of independent bookshops to present a series of online events. Below is a list of the highlights of the event which begins today. The GTLF 2020 full programme can be found here: http://www.georgetownlitfest.com/programme-2/
‘Suami dan Isteri’ by Usman Awang, read by Sharifah Amani
Celebrated Malaysian actress Sharifah Amani reads a short story by iconic writer and National Laureate Usman Awang. In Bahasa Malaysia.
Author: Usman Awang
Reader: Sharifah Amani
Link: George Town Literary Festival, Spotify, available from today (November 26, 2020)
In Solidarity: the Writer, his Conscience and the Nation — F. Sionil José in Conversation
Literary legend and multi-award-winning Filipino writer F. Sionil José is known equally for his 'Rosales Saga' novels and outside his country for his interventions on questions of land reform and social justice. He is also a founder of the regional journal of literature and opinion, 'Solidarity'.
Born before the Great Depression, he is rare in being a living witness to the tumultuous 20th century. He has been a consistent advocate for freedom of expression with his confirmation as vice-president of PEN International in October 2019.
In this conversation, The Vibes Executive Editor Eddin Khoo speaks to him about the role of the writer in the formation of national consciousness.
Speakers: F. Sionil José, Eddin Khoo
Link: George Town Literary Festival, Spotify, available from Saturday (November 28, 2020)
What Remains of the Light
German poet Lea Schneider will attempt to answer to what extent can forms, language and conventions in and out of poetry help define embodied lived experience, when the world seems to be fraying at the edges?
Poetry has long offered a slice of hope in troubled times. As inner lives become enmeshed with uncertain shifting realities in a global pandemic, new norms invite us to reconsider what we know of the self and the world around us.
Schneider will also share insights into her own practice of poetry and translation.
Speakers: Lea Schneider, Thira Mohamad
Link: George Town Literary Festival, Spotify, available from today (November 26, 2020)
Road Trips of the Imagination
Not unlike travelling, road trips of the imagination take us to vistas along a horizon only limited by the expanse of our creative mindscapes. Writers Joshua Kam and Arif Rafhan join Adriana Nordin Manan in a conversation on the journeys taken in their works, and how they change, challenge and compel us to always carry the voyager’s spirit within.
This podcast is presented in co-partnership with EPIGRAM.
Speakers: Joshua Kam, Arif Rafhan, Adriana Nordin Manan
Link: George Town Literary Festival, Spotify, available from tomorrow (November 27, 2020)
Ketika Kata Menyapa Kertas
A conversation with the editors of Svara, a new Malay-language journal in print that is at the vanguard of revitalising interest in the written word among the younger generation. In Bahasa Malaysia.
Speakers: Izzuddin Ramli, Nazir Harith Fadzilah, Hafiz Hamzah, Noor Azam Shairi
Link: George Town Literary Festival, Spotify, available from today (November 26, 2020)
Poetry and Exile
A recurring theme and metaphor in poetry since ancient times to the present day – how do the social, political and existential conditions of exile or displacement shape a poetry of insistent memory and resistance? Poets and translators Abdulsalam, Amin, Masuma and Mwaffaq gather for a conversation among friends.
They speak of longing for their homelands of Syria, Iran and Afghanistan, tensions of belonging in their new home of Malaysia, of hope, loss and the possibility of freedom.
Speakers: Mwaffaq Al-Hajjar, Amin Kamrani, Abdulsalam, Masuma Tavakoli
Language: English, Arabic and Persian
Link: George Town Literary Festival, YouTube and Spotify, available from Saturday (November 28, 2020)
‘The Sandpit’ by KS Maniam, read by Anne James and Jo Kukathas
In tribute to the late legendary Malaysian writer, K.S. Maniam, GTLF offers a special reading of his play, The Sandpit — a story of tradition, oppression, endurance and the female body set in a working-class Malaysian-Indian family.
This dramatised reading features celebrated actresses Anne James and Jo Kukathas reprising the roles of Santha and Sumathi which they performed in the 1994 production.
Speakers: Anne James, Jo Kukathas
Language: English
Link: George Town Literary Festival, Spotify, available from Saturday (November 28, 2020)
Illusive Elucidations: Aida Redza in Conversation
Renowned dancer and choreographer Aida Redza contemplates her search for a language to re-invent a lost lineage that aims to connect and to heal through spirits, systems, control and release.
How does one bridge the chasm between contemporary life and elusive memory-fragments of a past, to reclaim what was meant to be but never was?
Speakers: Aida Reza, Chee Sek Thim
Link: George Town Literary Festival, Spotify, available from Saturday (November 28, 2020)
PEN MALAYSIA x GTLF
The Politics, Poetics and Rituals of Translation
Stories are never ‘just’ stories. Each is a home for every human, a sense of belonging with a bigger purpose, driven by imagination and tamed by discipline. Stories gather ecosystems of thought, perception and importantly, imagination. They travel across space and time, via word of mouth or the visceral mind of a translator.
Date and Time: Friday (November 27, 2020), 8.30pm—10pm
Speakers: Al-Mustaqeem M Radhi, Chiew Ruoh Peng, Adriana Nordin Manan, Jo Kukathas, Moderator: Fahmi Mustaffa
LIVE: fb.com/georgetownlitfest
SWADAYA x GTLF
Writing Race with Melissa De Silva with Sharmilla Ganesan and Lee Chwi Lynn
What Malaysians and Singaporeans have in common is our love for boxes, for putting people within categories. In Singapore, we have the infamous CIMO – Chinese, Indian, Malay and Others – it is this inescapable formula of categorisation that author Melissa De Silva confronted in her award-winning creative nonfiction collection, ‘Others’ is not a Race.
Sharmilla Ganesan and Lee Chwi Lynn of BFM speak to Melissa about her writing journey, how her upbringing and experiences have shaped her, as well as how her work resonates with people on both sides of the border. Melissa De Silva is the author of ‘Others’ is Not a Race, winner of the Singapore Literature Prize 2018 (Creative Nonfiction), about Eurasians in Singapore.
Date and Time: Saturday (November 28, 2020) 8pm – 9.30pm
Platform: Zoom Meetings
Ticket: RM10.00
https://www.gerakbudaya.com/index.php?route=product/manufacturer/info&manufacturer_id=5272
GTLF 2020 is curated by Festival Co-Directors Pauline Fan and Sharaad Kuttan and Festival Curator Izzuddin Ramli. GTLF is supported by the Penang State Government and produced by PCEB. – The Vibes, November 26, 2020
To listen to this year's GTLF, go to Spotify.
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