THE George Town Literary Festival is an international literary festival celebrating world literature, translations and literary arts. Held annually in the UNESCO World Heritage site of George Town, Penang, the festival was awarded ‘The International Excellence Awards 2018 for Literary Festival’.
This year, the Festival goes online, as we look at the role of literature and art in the time of Covid.
7 new podcasts are out today, November 27, on Spotify, in both English and Bahasa Malaysia:
The Long 20th Century - Wang Gungwu in Conversation. Speakers: Wang Gungwu, Sharaad Kuttan
With his follow-up memoir, Home Is Where We Are, renowned historian Wang Gungwu continues his personal journey through the 20th Century as a participant and keen observer. We ask him how the individual, caught up in forces far beyond her control, might come to understand and negotiate both the progress and the devastation that the Century wrought on people and the planet.
Road Trips of the Imagination. Speakers: Joshua Kam, Arif Rafhan, Adriana Nordin Manan
If road trips bring us a change of scenery, 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.
Memayungi Obor Kritikan Sastera. Pembicara: S.M. Zakir, Wan Nor Azriq, Rebecca Ilham
Kritikan menghidupkan sastera dan karya tumbuh melalui penulis dan pengkritik. Setidak-tidaknya begitulah alam kesusasteraan di Nusantara khususnya di negara ini mengekalkan keberadaannya sejak abad ke-20. Namun, kritikan sastera dalam ranah teori kadangkala mengeringkan atau terasing. Tetapi ketika dibawa turun, kritikan sastera kemudiannya tidak lagi dianggap sebagai batu pengasah untuk menajamkan lagi daya fikir dan suara penulis, sebaliknya sebagai sebilah pedang untuk dibenamkan pada tubuh karya. Pada titik ini karya akhirnya berdarah ditusuk cemburu dan dendam. Pertemuan ini memeta budaya kritik sastera, berbual tentang keberanian penulis untuk keluar dari ruang selesa, dan bagaimana untuk mengekalkan satu suasana yang sesuai bagi perbahasan-perbahasan penting dalam sastera di Malaysia.
The Burmese Labyrinth. Speakers: Carlos Sardiña Galache, Lilianne Fan
Since ancient times, labyrinths have been paradoxical by design. Serving as a path to spiritual rebirth, a trap for evil spirits, and a place to hold captive monsters of the empire, the complex layers of a labyrinth hold the promise to both enlighten and confound. In this conversation, we explore the formation of national belonging in Burma and the ways in which these histories have created constructions of the Burmese ‘self’. What has this meant for the Rohingya, who have been cast as the quintessential ‘other’ of Burmese identity? What are the myths and parameters of this national imagination, and what would it take to shift them? Journalist and author, Carlos Sardiña Galache, interrogates these questions in a conversation on his new book, The Burmese Labyrinth.
Riwayat Kebudayaan Malaya (1940-1960) Melalui Sastera Mahua. Pembicara: Show Ying Xin, Ngoi Guat Peng, Zikri Rahman
Seperti apa sastera Mahua mempengaruhi perkembangan serta riwayat kebudayaan Malaya pada takah 1940 sehingga 1960-an? Dengan bolak-balik migrasi yang cukup pesat, pertembungan ideologi sehinggalah persoalan identiti, di mana letak duduk sastera Mahua dalam menangkap kebudayaan masyarakat kita kemudiannya? Bersama Profesor Ngoi Guat Peng (UPSI) dan Dr. Show Ying Xin (ANU) di dalam meneroka titik mula perkembangan sastera Mahua dan kesannya di Malaya.
Short story: ‘The Wall’ by Ho Sok Fong. Performed by: Foo May Lyn (main picture above)
Artist and performer Foo May Lyn reads a short story by acclaimed Mahua writer Ho Sok Fong. ‘The Wall’ stands at the threshold between the real and the surreal, between quiet anguish and wild delirium. ‘The Wall’, Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong, translated by Natascha Bruce, published by Granta (2019).
Peta Seribu Diri Terbentang. Pembicara: Jack Malik, Kulleh Grasi, Tulangkata, Aliff Awan, Ainunl Muaiyanah, Aisyah Rais, Qurratul ‘Ain, Karim Mohd, Hafiz Hamzah, Shaira Amira, Syaheeda Hamdani, Zahid M. Naser, Shafiq Said, Hidayu Hatta, Raihani Md. Saaid
Tatkala terkurung, puisi menjadi jalan keluar. Ia membawa kita menuju ke ruang-ruang yang jarang disinggahi melalui bahasa yang melampaui kebiasaan. Dengari lima belas penyair Malaysia membacakan puisi-puisi terpilih, membentangkan kedukaan, cinta, dan harapan.
For the full GTLF 2020 programme, please visit http://www.georgetownlitfest.com/
To listen to the full lineup of podcasts, got to Spotify. – The Vibes, November 27, 2020
The Vibes is a proud media partner of The George Town Literary Festival 2020.
