GEORGE TOWN – George Town Literary Festival (GTLF) returns to its physical form after two years of digital presence. Its theme for 2022, Taming the Wild, sets to explore the complex relationship between wilderness and human nature.
GTLF’s 12th edition will take place from November 24 to 27. The festival main site is along Gat Lebuh Cina, George Town.
GTLF2022 looks at the ways in which wilderness has shaped the creative power of our human imagination. The festival also hopes to consider the dark side of human nature – our inclination for violence, brute power, war, and the destruction of the natural world.
This edition will be directed by Pauline Fan and curated by Izzuddin Ramli, both respected figures among the Malaysian writers and translators’ community. The curatorial team is further expanded to include two new curators for the Tamil and Chinese panels.
These panels will be curated by M. Navin, a distinguished Malaysian Tamil writer and Dr Florence Kuek of Universiti Malaya, whose research foci include Chinese literature as well as literary criticism, respectively.
The festival is funded by the state government of Penang and is produced by Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) for the seventh straight year. This year, the festival has a line-up of 72 participants from 18 countries.
Notable Malaysian guests for this edition include National Laureate Zurinah Hassan, the winner of the Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2022, Karina Robles Bahrin, the first prize recipient of the Huazong Literary Award, Fang Lu, and visual artist Syarifah Nadhirah.
Regional and international headliners include Indonesian poet and critic Nirwan Dewanto, 2022 International Booker Prize finalists Bora Chung and Anton Hur, eminent poet, essayist and translator Pierre Joris, Algerian poet Habib Tengour, Ukrainian poet Andriy Lyubka, Myanmar poets ko ko thett and Nandar, Vietnamese-French novelist Thuan, Scottish writer Cal Flyn, and Indian writer and literary critic B. Jeyamohan.
This year’s programmes to include one-on-one conversations, panel discussions, readings, book launches, exhibitions and workshops. GTLF is also publishing Muara, an anthology featuring essays, lectures, short stories, poetry, and translations.
Muara gathers established and emerging writers from Malaysia, the region, and the world. The book will be launched during GTLF2022 in November.
Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya returns as the festival’s official bookstore for the fourth consecutive year. Kinokuniya will be carrying titles by GTLF2022’s prestigious line-up of writers and speakers, depending on availability. Its pop-up store will be at UAB Building from November 25–27.
Apart from writing workshops by festival writers, GTLF remains free for all members of the public. – The Vibes, September 15, 2022
For more information go to www.georgetownlitfest.com, email: [email protected] or go to Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/georgetownlitfest/
