Aquatics Cambodia: Irrawaddy Literary Festival & Yoma FMI Short Story Contest in Yangon, Myanmar

CULTURAL EVENTS CORNER

Irrawaddy Literary Festival & Yoma FMI Short Story Contest in Yangon, Myanmar

(1st - 3rd February / Inya Lake Hotel)

Tickets for the Irrawaddy LitFest are now on sale. They're available for 1500 Kyats from The British Council, Monument Books, Inya Lake Hotel, Today Book Stores & Myanmar Book Centre.

The Irrawaddy Literary Festival

The Festival’s patron, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, says:
“I am delighted to lend my support and personal participation to this first Irrawaddy Literary Festival. Literature has always been a big part of my life and I hope this festival, which brings together some of the finest talent from Burma, the UK and elsewhere will encourage more people to explore the world of literature and further their understanding of the English language.”

This, the first ever international literary festival in Burma/Myanmar will include the best local authors writing in English as well as a substantial number of local authors writing in Burmese and, of course, a rich mixture of international writers.

At present Irrawaddy Literary Festival participants list includes:

Aung San Suu Kyi

Participating Foreign Authors:

Participating Local Authors:

Thant Myint U
Pascal Khoo Thwe
Pandora
Zarganar
U Thaw Kaung
Dr Ma Thida
Pe Myint
Zaw Thet Htwe
Zeyar Lynn
Ju
Pandora
Mya Thwe Ni
Sein Myo Myint
Htine Win
Soe Thaw Dar
Ko Ko Thett
U Khin Maung Nyo
Daw Ma Ma Naing

The inaugural Yoma FMI Short Story Prize will be presented during the festival. This competition is now open for any students aged up to 25 years. Interested students should submit a fictional story based on the theme of ‘Changing Lives’, not exceeding 2,000 words. There will be two awards of $1,000 – one for the best story written in English, one for the best story written in Burmese/Myanmar. Please send your entry to: info@irrawaddylitfest.com by Friday 18 January 2013. The prize is the initiative of Yoma Strategic Holdings and First Myanmar Holdings, one of the Irrawaddy Literary Festival’s sponsors along with MPRL E&P, the British Embassy and the British Council. TODAY Media Group, Monument Books and Myanmar Book Centre are also supporting the festival.

Festival Tickets

Tickets will be on sale from 7 January 2013 at the Inya Lake Hotel, as well as other outlets. Tickets can also be purchased by emailing info@irrawaddylitfest.com
There will be a small entrance fee of 1500 kyats (around $2) for all festival goers for each day of the festival. There will be no additional payments required. The gates will be open from 9.30 each day and the programme will start from 10 am.

Programme

The full programme is still in preparation and will be put up on the website http://irrawaddylitfest.com/ in due course. But the list of speakers already on the website, and their accompanying biographies, gives a good idea of the topics which are likely to be covered.

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Afterwards…

Aung San Suu Kyi draws thousands to Myanmar's first literary festival

Though the "Lady" was the main attraction, the Irrawaddy Literary Festival managed to focus the spotlight on Myanmar's changing book landscape.

By Kate Whitehead, 5 February, 2013

"If you have ever learned some poems, they will come in very handy if ever you are imprisoned," said Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, while speaking at the Irrawaddy Literary Festival.

The Irrawaddy Literary Festival was never going to be a regular book bash. Not with one of the world's great democracy icons as the star of the show.

And the thousands that turned up to hear Aung San Suu Kyi weren't what you'd call the usual literary festival crowd.

"It's the draw of this country and Aung San," said Jane Heyn, the festival's director and wife of the British ambassador to Myanmar, as the three-day festival came to a close on Sunday.

Three thousand made their way through the doors of Inya Lake Hotel in Yangon on Saturday and more than a thousand of those packed the hotel ballroom to hear Ms. Suu Kyi speak.

She spoke of how books helped her through the 15 years she spent under house arrest.

Outside Yangon'a Inya Lake Hotel, site of Myanmar's first literary festival, book stalls were set up under the shade of bright blue tents. "I read a lot about prisoners and prisoners of conscience," she said. "Through books you can learn how people cope intellectually and spiritually through the challenges of life."

Suu Kyi's favorite genre -- detective stories -- have proved more than a source of entertainment. She says they've helped her understand people.

"And now that I'm chair of the Law and Order Council, I know a lot more about the law and courts because of reading detective stories," she says. "The more detective stories you read, the better able you are to work out who the villain is."

For Suu Kyi, literature sustains the soul and gives strength: "If you have ever learned some poems, they will come in very handy if ever you are imprisoned."

Source: Kate Whitehead, Travel CNN

Myanmar's changing literary landscape

As crowds flooded out of the ballroom onto the Sunset Terrace to hear Suu Kyi announce the winners of a writing competition, 20-year-old Naing Mie Mie Khin beamed.

"I am so happy today!" she gushed.

Did this student of English at Rangoon University come to join the weekend's literary discussions? "No -- I've come to see the Lady!"

Indian novelist and poet Vikram Seth, one of the 26 international writers who flew into Yangon for the event, said it was the draw of Aung San Suu Kyi that convinced him to accept the invitation.

"I wouldn't normally come to a festival when I'm working on a book, but because of Daw San, because it's Burma and because it relates to freedom and free speech I wanted to come."

Although Suu Kyi was the star of the show, the festival wasn't all about her. When she sat on a panel with three other writers -- Jung Chang, Vikram Seth and William Dalrymple and moderator Fergal Keane -- she was careful not to steal the limelight. She even generously shared that one of Vikram Seth's poems helped her get through a particularly dark time under house arrest.

Alongside the international writers were 120 Burmese writers -- some authors, plenty of poets as well as journalists and editors. The names of the overseas writers were unfamiliar to most but that was hardly surprising -- under Myanmar's 50-year military regime very few foreign books were translated.

Those that were translated were largely the classics and even they were annotated.

But things are changing. For instance, festival speaker Jung Chang's bestseller "Wild Swans" was recently translated into Burmese.

Likewise, the international writers knew little about their Burmese peers.

Although a few have been translated into English, such as the author, journalist and surgeon Dr. Ma Thida, as well as the poet Pandora, most are unknown outside of Myanmar.

"I hope that this event has enriched the outlook of our local writers," said Pandora. "And also that the rest of the world can find out more about Myanmar literature. Our biggest barrier at the moment is language -- we need more work to be translated, we need more translators."

Outside on the lawn overlooking the tranquil Inya Lake was a carnival-like atmosphere.

Under the shade of bright blue tents were book stalls and food buffets. Festival-goers lay on the grass and chatted. There were marionettes for entertainment and even fire breathers.

But inside were serious discussions -- some in English, some in Burmese, all centered on the special moment at which the country finds itself. After five decades of military dictatorship the door has opened to the world, free exchange is permissible and the buzz of change is an almost physical sensation.

Source: Kate Whitehead, Travel CNN

Uncertain future for Irrawaddy Literary Festival

Three thousand made their way through the doors of Inya Lake Hotel in Yangon on Saturday, many to hear Aung Suu Kyi speak. Timothy Garton Ash, professor of European Studies at Oxford University, was one of the festival's most successful moderators, deftly smoothing over any cultural gaps and gaffs.

He moderated a panel on writing under censorship and free speech and gave a lecture on what George Orwell -- the English novelist and journalist who served as a police officer in Myanmar from 1922 to 1927 -- meant for the country.

One of the world's leading authorities on Orwell, Garton Ash's talk was much like the festival itself -- entertaining, informative and deeply personal. He was a close friend of Michael Aris, Suu Kyi's late husband, who died of cancer while she was under house arrest.

The house in which Suu Kyi spent all those years is just across the lake from where the festival was held.

It's uncertain whether the Irrawaddy Literary Festival will be staged again next year. Heyn conceived and created a one-of-a-kind festival. She and her ambassador husband will leave Yangon in the summer after four years and no one has yet stepped forward to take responsibility for putting it on again.

If the festival is staged next year one thing is certain -- it won't ever capture the special vibe of last weekend. Witnessing a country as it greets its future, as writers meet other writers and discover new ways of expression, is a magic that happens only once.

Source: Kate Whitehead, Travel CNN

International Writers Converge in Rangoon for Literature Festival

RANGOON, BURMA — International writers travelled to Rangoon in recent days for Burma’s first international literature festival. The three-day Irrawaddy Literary Festival marked the first open exchange of ideas between local and foreign writers in Burma after decades of publishing restrictions and government censorship.

Two years ago it would have seemed like fantasy to imagine Aung San Suu Kyi and internationally acclaimed writers Vikram Seth and Jung Chang sitting around a table in Rangoon, talking about what books they would take to a desert island.

It’s only recently that foreign writers and exile Burmese have been allowed into the country, according to festival organizer Jane Heyn.

“The visa issue. It was then, and even in some cases has been for this festival, quite difficult for participants, some of them to obtain a visa,” said Heyn.

The festival hosted some 150 local and foreign writers who discussed formerly taboo topics - more evidence of how Burma’s political change is affecting culture and the arts.

Formerly blacklisted Burmese author Pascal Khoo Thwe, whose book From the Land of Green Ghosts was banned, is back home after more than 20 years in exile. He said this is the kind of event he has always fantasized about.

“It ought to inspire young people to write I think. They do read a lot as far as I know, but they haven’t got the confidence to write,” said Khoo Thwe.

He said literature and the arts are critical to what he called normalization after decades of military rule.

Government restrictions once made new books a rare treasure, leaving libraries and schools without books and learning materials.

Thant Thaw Kaung founded the Myanmar Book Center, which has imported English books since 1995. Import licenses and censorship once plagued his business, but he said he now looks forward to making education materials more available to Burmese people.

“We are doing a book buffet here. That’s one of our events. It’s a charity book fair, we are raising funds, and after we get the funds we buy back the Myanmar [Burma] language books and donate to these village libraries.”

Festival organizers hope the event will be annual - should the government remain open - putting Burmese literature back on the map.

Source:

http://www.voanews.com/a/international_writers_converge_on_rangoon_for_literature_festival_irrawaddy_literary/1596985.html

Letter from Organizing Committee of Irrawaddy Literature Festival to the Editor-in-Chief of Aquatics Cambodia:

Dear Sir,

We are delighted to learn of your initiative offering a special package to Cambodian residents interested in coming to our festival. All information about the festival is to be found on our website, to which you have already drawn attention in your article in Aquatics Cambodia. The website is regularly up dated and will soon contain details of the festival programme.

We wish you the best of luck with your initiative and look forward to welcoming any visitors from Cambodia.

Regards,

Giles FitzHerbert
(member of festival organising committee)

1st Irrawaddy Literary Festival 2013 in Inya Lake Hotel, Myanmar (in Burmese Language)

1st Irrawaddy Literary Festival 2013 in Inya Lake Hotel, Myanmar: Press Briefing with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (in Burmese Language)

International and Local Writers Converge in Yangon, Myanmar for Irrawaddy Literature Festival 2013

Burma

Denied Pagoda Venue, Literary Festival Kicks Off at Mandalay Hotel

The Irrawaddy Literary Festival gets a bumpy start, with a last-minute venue change after organizers were denied permission to hold the event at Kuthodaw Pagoda.

By ZARNI MANN 14 February 2014

MANDALAY — The second Irrawaddy Literary Festival got off to a bumpy start here on Friday, with a last-minute venue change after organizers were denied permission to hold the event at Kuthodaw Pagoda, a sacred Buddhist compound that authorities said would be at risk if the international festival proceeded as planned.

A prohibition letter issued by the Ministry of Culture was received by the Mandalay festival’s organizers on Thursday afternoon, citing the pagoda compound’s value as a global monument to Buddhism and justifying the denial in the name of its conservation.

In addition to immediate concerns about the effect of holding the festival on the pagoda grounds, the letter cited the precedent that its approval would set and said future requests to hold similar events would be difficult to deny, with potential long-term impacts on the heritage site.

“It is such a shame as there are a lot of world famous writers and authors present at the festival. However, we had to rush to move the location to Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel. We deeply apologize to the speakers, the authors and everyone for the inconvenience,” said Dr. Aung Myint, a member of the festival’s organizing committee and an author.

The organizing committee had to scramble to move festival materials to the Mandalay Hill Resort and arrange rooms for the festival’s opening speech, a photo exhibition and literary discussions.

The venue change is not the first controversy to beset the festival, which runs through Sunday. Last month more than 50 Burmese poets and 30 cartoonists declared that they would boycott the event. In a public letter, the Mandalay-based poets said they were unhappy about “manipulation” in the organization of the event, without providing specifics.

One writer who spoke to The Irrawaddy in January said the boycott was likely related to a long-standing schism between artists who had worked with Burma’s former military regime and those who maintained independence.

“To sum up what is happening now in Mandalay: the ones who have been standing up for the oppressed are not happy to stand with the ones who are for the oppressors,” said the author, who requested anonymity.

The inaugural Irrawaddy Literary Festival was held in February 2013 in Rangoon.

On Friday, Aung Myint brushed off this year’s venue snafu.

“We do not want to blame anyone but want to thank everyone who gave their kind understanding. Despite the unsmooth start, we believe this second literary festival will open another door to the world for literature and book lovers,” he said.

U Phone, a well-known Burmese author, was similarly unfussed.

“This is what happens at events all the time,” he said. “We understand that and blame no one. We just need to play our role in how to best present and promote our literature to the world.”

Source:

http://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/denied-pagoda-venue-literary-festival-kicks-mandalay-hotel.html

Aquatics Cambodia

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Irrawaddy Literary Festival & Yoma FMI Short Story Contest in Yangon, Myanmar

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