Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2019 | a recap



As someone who loves reading and writing so much I can’t live without my books and notebooks. I can stay home for the whole week just for reading some moving self-help books or nerve-wrecking novels. I don’t need cozy coffee shops for writing new blog posts because my bedroom is a perfect place to put my ideas into words. Yup, my home is my heaven because I have everything I need. However, 2 weeks ago I decided to leave my sanctuary for almost a week. If you read my previous post, you must have known that I went to Ubud-Bali for a retreat. If you haven’t read it you can check it on A Retreat to Ubud : A Reflection. It didn’t really turn out well but for some reasons I was glad to be there on that week. One of the reasons is I got to enjoy one of the biggest literary festival in the world, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2019. So guys, please stay with me until the end of this post because I’m gonna tell you everything you need to know about this awesome event that you can’t miss next year. Check this out!



*What is Ubud Writers and Readers Festival?

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival or #uwrf is a world scale literary festival located in Ubud-Bali. It is said that it has been included in The Telegraph’s list of 5 best literary festivals around the world in 2019. This amazing event is possible thanks to Janet DeNeefe. She founded this event in 2004 in order to help Bali recover from the terrorist attacks. Since then UWRF is consistently held annually. Every year UWRF has a different theme. For 2019 the theme is Karma, which is drawn from a Hindu philosophy yet known universally.

This festival was held for 4 days from 23-27 October 2019 in Ubud. For 4 days you will be enjoying a lot of main programs, special events, workshops, free events, and book launches, in 3 main venues that are Festival Hub @Taman Baca, Indus Restaurant, and Neka Museum. The main programs are thought-provoking discussions with famous writers and change makers around the world. Special events are more intimate conversations, lunches, dinners with special people who can be your favorite writers or speakers. You can also join a lot of interesting workshops. Free events are my favorite one. I could watch a lot of movies which I can’t find on theaters because some of them are banned by Indonesian government. I was also able to watch some great poets reading their moving poems on Poetry Slams which were held for free. On book launches, I found some new interesting books which were launched and discussed. As I said before this festival was mainly held at 3 main venues but sometimes the locations can be at some fancy places around Ubud such as Betelnut Cafe, Paradiso, and Blanco Reinassance Museum.

Taman Baca

Indus Restaurant

Neka Museum

Food Court

I love this installation so much. It sounds so calming when the wind blows.

If you are a solo traveler like me, you don’t need to worry about being lonely during the festival. Why? Because I’m sure you will meet a lot of new people that will be your company and friends. I met Nina, my new friend from Pasuruan, on the first day of the festival. She is the one who faithfully accompanied me having fun for 4 days. Thank you Nina. Besides Nina, I also had fun conversations with some foreigners. FYI, most of the festival participants are foreigners from Australia, Europe, and America. Based on my observations, they are mostly middle age women. I rarely found youngsters here. Even I only found a few Indonesians as the audiences. If you see a lot of Indonesians mostly they are the volunteers or staff of the event.

Meet Nina my best company during the event. Thank you Nin..

You need to remember that this festival is not for free. Well there are some free events held but if you want to join the main programs you need to buy the ticket. Also if you are interested in joining the workshops or having fun at the special events, there will be additional payment. The ticket price is varied. It depends on some categories. If you want to know more about it you can check it on uwrf website. After buying the ticket, you will get a wrist band for 1-day pass and a lanyard for 4-day pass. Remember to always bring and wear your wrist band or lanyard on the festival venue because it will be checked by the staff. You will also be given a program book that provides all information about the programs offered and a daily schedule that will help you a lot to choose programs you want to enjoy. On the festival it’s better to always bring your reusable tumbler. The committes provide some donation based water refill stations on the venues. So you can just refill you water bottle there and stay hydrated.



UWRF committees provide a free shuttle that runs between 8 am-6 pm every 30 minutes from festival venues to Museum Puri Lukisan on Jl. Raya Ubud. So you can just take it to get to the festival venues. Just wait at the Shuttle Point sign and enjoy the ride. If you like walking like me, you can just walk to the venues because they are close by. Ubud is a visually pleasing region so I think you will enjoy your walk very much. Beware of the heat okay? Ubud is really hot.

If your destination is a bit far you can always take the motorbike taxi or in Indonesian ojek. Online taxis like Gojek or Grab are very few in Ubud since they’re not allowed to operate at the city center. So the more available option is the local motorbike taxis. You need to bargain for the price for this. I actually never took local motorbike taxis during my stay in Ubud. Why? It’s not affordable for me. I chose to use the online ones because it’s way cheaper and safer. But yeah I needed to be more patient to get one. Fyi, Gojek is way cheaper than Grab in Ubud. I think you need to take that into account.

*My Accomodation

Now let’s talk about my first experience joining this festival! So, I went to Ubud on Wednesday, 23 October 2019 early in the morning. I departed from my home in Jembrana, it’s located in west part of Bali, by car with my family. It took about 3 until 4 hours to get to Ubud. I stayed in Ubud for 5 days and I chose to spend my nights at Ojek’s Homestay which is perfectly located in the city center, Gang Soka Jl. Raya Ubud. I actually knew this homestay from a blog post of someone who also joined UWRF years ago. She recommends it so that’s why I chose Ojek’s Homestay. I booked a room for myself via Booking.com. It costed me Rp 500k for 5 nights and I paid it cash when I checked in. For me it’s very affordable.

I chose a room with a single bed for 2 people and a private bathroom. I don’t want to have a shared bathroom because I’m a hijabi moslem girl. You know...my privacy is priceless. Ojek’s Homestay is very convenient and cozy. It’s a typical Balinese house with its cultural Hinduism touch. The owners and staff are very friendly and helpful. There is also a cute dog! Really, I recommend this homestay for you guys. I could sleep well at nights eventhough a lot of times I could hear people next door talking so loudly. But so far, I have nothing to complain.

Ojek's Homestay

To get to the festival venues, I chose to take online motorbike taxis like Gojek or Grab. I mostly used Gojek because it’s cheaper. Sometimes I walked to the venues and it took about 15 minutes. You need to know that you can always rent a motorbike in Ubud. There are a lot of places to rent it. Make sure you can ride a motorbike and have a license. Since I can’t ride a motorbike so I chose to take the taxis or going on foot. Ubud is very hot. Even  it’s hotter than Jembrana because of its numbers of cars and motorbikes on the street. So, always bring a woter bottle when you go out and apply some sun screen to your skin. My hands got sunburned because I mostly forgot to wear my sunblock.

*D-days

I purchased a 4-day pass for myself. It costed me Rp 750k. Thank God I’m an Indonesian so I got a cheaper price compared to foreigner one. I joined a lot of main programs. Each main program is lasted for about 1 hour until 1 hour and a half. I could freely choose what programs to attend based on my interest. I mostly chose programs which were about Balinese culture, Indonesian writers, Movies, Poems, Women, Religions, and Hijab. There are a lot more varied topics and themes provided. You can take a look at the program book and choose what you want to join.

During the main programs I listened to the panellists discussions. I still remembered very well when Indonesian movie makers and writers such as Garin Nugroho, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Richard Oh, Rayya Makarim, and Leila S. Chudori had a very intense discussion about Indonesian Cinema as Soft Power. They very well presented their opinions and arguments about the quality of Indonesian movies compared to South Korea and Thailand films. 1 hour discussion wasn’t enough. The audiences  including me felt the heat. So far, this is my most favorite panel of UWRF 19.

My other favorite panels are Enlightenment for All and Bali’s Art Activists. From those panels I learned about “fake” spirituality of Bali and the sad truth of people with mental problem in Bali. I couldn’t stop crying when a Balinese photographer, Rudi Waisnawa, showed his photographs of people who are confined inside a small room for their mental health problem (pasung). When it was time for QnA I asked him a question and the answer broke my heart. This also happens in Jembrana, a place where I come from. Thank God the person with the mental problem has overcome his sickness and he’s been released. These main programs have opened my horizon and let me see the world I’ve never known before. I indeed learned a lot.

Beside joining the main programs, I also joined the Poetry Slams, Movie Screening, and Book Launches. This was my first time attending Poetry Slam in English. So I was very excited. I never knew that poems can be very varied with different styles and spoken words. I thought they are always rhyming and the meaning is implicit. Poetry Slam opened my eyes that poems are freedom. You can freely express your feelings and thoughts with whatever words you have on your mind. They don’t have to be sophisticated it terms of dictions and no need to follow the rules. I watched a lot of poets’ performances during UWRF 19 including Theoresia Rumthe. Are you guys familiar with this name? Before joining UWRF I had no idea who she is. Thanks to UWRF I fall in love with her poems and her performance. When she read her poem, I couldn’t take my eyes and ears off her. It was magical. Every word felt like alive. I love it when she performed “Tempat Paling Liar di Muka Bumi”. She is incredibly awesome. I actually planned on reading my own poems. But I changed my mind because I had no experiences on doing it in public. I hope next time I can do it.

One of the participants of Poetry Slam held in Betelnut Cafe..

Together with Kak Theo and her biggest fan Nina. Image taken from UWRF facebook page.

Watching some “special” movies was something I looked forward in this festival. The Woven Path| Perempuan Tana Humba and Memories of My Body| Ku Cumbu Tubuh Indahku are movies I got to watch. Those movies are really something especially Memories of My Body. I finally understand why this movie is banned in Indonesia.The story is bringing some sensitive and controversial issues. It also has explicit contents that not everyone can watch. Some of the viewers including me couldn’t hold ourselves not to scream when it got a bit too extreme. I was glad I could watch it together with everyone else. At least I wasn’t the only one who was a bit overwhelmed. The Woven Path is a very aesthetic movie. It tells about women’s roles in Sumba East Nusa Tenggara. This movie is very informative and mind-opening. For feminists this movie is a worth to watch indeed.

The great woman from Perempuan Tana Humba. Kak Olin.

Garin Nugroho, the one behind Ku Cumbu Tubuh Indahku

Book Launches are perfect events to attend in order to meet your favorite author with his or her new piece. For me this event is great to get free drinks and snacks hehehe. Book launches that I attended are Rahasia Salinem and Tutur Feminis Meluruhkan yang Biner. I actually didn’t read those 2 books or buy them. I do know about Rahasia Salinem because it is very popular on twitter and storial.co. I got to read it a bit but I haven’t continued reading it. I think it’s quite interesting. I’ll give it a try next time. Anyway, attending those book launches let me meet the authors. They shared their story and experiences in writing their new books. It was nice to know more about their creative process. To write a book even a fantasy or fictional one you do need to do your research. Yup, copy that.

Meet the authors of Rahasia Salinem

*Takeaway

Wow... this post becomes very long eventhough it’s a recap. Sorry guys I just want to share my knowledge about this great festival as complete and as precise as possible so you get clear ideas about it. As a closing I just want to tell you that #UWRF19 was awesome! I highly recommend it to you guys. I learned a lot from the main programs and other events the committes offered. I got new perspectives about so many things that matter in life. I met a lot of new amazing friends and people. I got to enjoy the movies, music, poems, art works, great installations, also dance and circus performances. I finally got to speak English again after resigning from my job. I brought home a new book from Periplus. It’s superb!

Gundala art exhibition

This is heaven... Periplus...

I would love to join this festival again next year. Hopefully I won’t be one of the audiences anymore. It will be great if I can be one of the volunteers, staff, or speakers. Amin... I’m very grateful that Ubud has been a very nice and safe place for a solo traveler like me. On my first day in Ubud I went back to Ojek’s homestay by walking at 11 pm. It was really late for me. Thank God the street wasn’t empty. There were still some tourists and people walking by. Just like my parents said, Bali is safe because the people still believe in Karma. The ones who commit the crime are usually outsiders who come to Bali.

So guys after reading this really long post, are you interested in joining Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2020? Let me know your thoughts. Feel free to give your opinions and comments on the comment box below. See you next week on a different and new blog post!

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