I'm going to the Makassar International Writers Festival 2012!

It's started already - in fact, I was supposed to go yesterday but Garuda Airlines rescheduled my flight. (I complained and they compensated me by upgrading me to business class, so I can't be that mad at them. Also, I'm now wondering if they informed me by phone while I was half-asleep.)

The website's here, btw. And Makassar is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, located here:

 I've been invited by Lily Yulianti Farid, whom I bonded with at festivals in Ubud and Singapore in 2009. She writes in Bahasa Indonesia: the volume below is Lontar's excellent translation.

Other folks I know (or have read) who'll be at the festival: slammer Omar Musa (AU), short story writer Xu Xi (HK), memoirist Bernice Chauly (MY), poet Jennifer Mackenzie (AU) and Elizabeth Pisani (US), the fabulous HIV activist and author of The Wisdom of Whores.

I'm afraid I don't know the Indonesians. But I'll get to know them! (As long as they speak *some* English. Malu lah, gua tak boleh cakap bahasa nasional Singapura.)

May Texts

I've really gotta read some poetry. Haven't for the last two months.

*FICTION*
=Lil Bahadur Chettri’s “Mountains Painted With Turmeric”
+Shamini Flint’s “Inspector Singh Investigates: A Curious Indian Cadaver”
+Rabindranath Tagore’s “Selected Short Stories”

*DRAMA*
Chay Yew’s =“Porcelain” and +”A Language of Their Own” (reread)

*NON-FICTION*
=Jason Wee’s “My Suit”
+Isabella Bird’s “The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither”

*GRAPHIC TEXTS*
+Alan Moore’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1969”

*FILMS*
+Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers”
+John Madden’s “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
+Wee Li Lin’s “Singapore Country”

*PERFORMANCES*
Choy Ka Fai’s “Lan Fang Chronicles” (cannot give judgment lah, I was part of it!)
+Kim Itoh’s “Bridge Café Project”
+Théatre du Centaure’s “Flux”
+Gerardo Naumann’s “Ciudades Paralelas (Parallel Cities) – Factory”
+Lola Arias’s “Ciudades Paralelas (Parallel Cities) – Hotel Maids”
+National Arts Council’s “Nan Nan Zi Yu”, “XII – In Search of 13” and “Songbird”
Slung Low’s “Pandemic: They Only Come at Night”
=Young@Heart and No Theater’s “End of the Road”
=Espaces Sonores’s “An Umbrella for 2”
+Marion D’Cruz’s “Dream Country”

*EXHIBITIONS*
=Brahma Tirta Sari Batik Studio’s “Sarong”
+Neo Kim Seng’s “Mix:Re/Tape”
+Choy Ka Fai’s “Lan Fang Chronicles”