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Words around the world

Thousands of miles away, while Whistler was hosting its writer's festival, just south of the equator Bali was celebrating its own literary celebration.

Thousands of miles away, while Whistler was hosting its writer's festival, just south of the equator Bali was celebrating its own literary celebration. The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival just wrapped up its seventh successful event with more than 120 writers from 28 countries in attendance and nearly 2,000 registered attendees.

This year's theme was "Harmony in Diversity," Bhinneka Tunggal Ika in Bahasa Indonesia. The organizers' intent was to create a world-class literary event that would bring together diverse voices for intercultural dialogue and exchange and to advocate respect between all people; across religious, ethnic and social divides.

"The East will cross paths with the West. It will be a literary celebration like no other," said Janet De Neefe, co-founder of the festival.

Harper's Bazaar UK has called Ubud, "One of the six best literary festivals in the world." This year's big ticket guest was Louis de Bernieres, the British author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (1994) which was made into a movie in 2001 staring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz.

Bernieres, a jovial, witty, burley individual, says that Captain Corelli's Mandolin was his War and Peace . He doesn't make any claims to be Tolstoy, merely, "It was the best I could be at that time."

Today he feels his new work is better.

Although Captain Corelli's Mandolin was a huge international success, de Bernieres wasn't pleased with the outcome of the movie. "The main problem with film is it's not as individual as the book. It goes off by the demands of producers wanting what they believe the market wants," de Bernieres said.

He referred to directors as, "Dogs who don't believe they own anything unless they have pissed on it."

He said the first author to really have control over a movie was J K Rowling. "At the time of Captain Corelli's Mandolin , authors didn't have that kind of control," de Bernieres said.

From Russia with intrigue were Oleg Borushko and Galina Laraveza. Sharing their life experiences during the Soviet era, the duo captivated their audience. Laraveza, an expert translator, clarified that with Russia geographically situated between Asia and Europe it allowed poets and writers to absorb both cultures and traditions.

She stated that prior to World War I, Russian poetry was blooming. By the 1930s the Soviet government wanted to educate the population through their own writers and poets to spread the party line and create nationalism. Although poets and writers couldn't express themselves freely, it was fashionable to be well read. This interest in literature spread throughout Soviet society, including factory workers.

Borushko added that because there weren't any bars or television sets to entertain people they would gather in kitchens to discuss the country's future and create poetry. "People would write poetry and make it into a song; anyone with a guitar would sing. That is how poetry endured during the difficult times."

Poets were considered the source of information as the public couldn't get the truth from newspapers or other government-controlled media.

Compared to today, Borushko believes that creative thinking was much more common during the Soviet era, as that was the only way to entertain oneself. Both writers felt that the generations that grew up in the 1960s and 1970s emerged extremely well read in Russian literature.

How ironic that two Russians were discussing freedom of speech in Indonesia. Although censorship has come a long way in this part of the world it still exists - as we know from the history of East Timor. And as one writer mentioned, "The censors are getting paid, so they have to find something or they'll lose their job."

It was encouraging to witness the presence of Indonesian high school students in the audience. The students spoke excellent English. They knew the authors and their questions were well researched.

Students were bused in from as far as Jakarta to participate in the festival and to support 36 Indonesian writers.

Of 208 volunteers organized by Australian Gabriel Monson and Indonesian Ochi Chandra, 91 were Indonesian. Volunteers are the glue to most festivals and Monson and Chandra had their hands full with the logistics of managing the international media, hosting book launches, children's events and numerous workshops.

It is also important to note that admission prices were tiered to ensure that the festival was accessible to locals as well as international guests. As the average monthly income for a hotel worker in Bali is CAD$60 per month, that was good news.

Many, many international writers made the trip to Ubud. Ma Jian, who fled China in 1986, has been living in exile in the United Kingdom since 1999. Hailed as one of the greatest Chinese writers of his time he spoke about censorship, writing and life in exile.

Vietnamese authors Andrew Lam and Anna Moi gave a stunning lecture on the Vietnamese diaspora and how they grappled with cultural adaptation and the burden of their nation's history. In 1975, when Saigon fell, Lam went from Saigon to refugee camps in The Philippines to Guam and finally ending up in San Francisco. Moi was in France during the fall of Saigon and overnight her passport was null and void. Both felt the power of words was a bridge to cope with the transition.

The festival lasted five days and was filled with special events, workshops, cooking classes, dance performances, film screenings, book launches and so much more. Without a doubt the organizers achieved their goal to celebrate harmony in diversity, for events celebrated and honoured local and international culture and constructive dialogue was engaged from one reading to the next. The event wrapped up with a street party, Ubud style, with local dance performances, hip-hop and jazz concerts.

As the festival continues to grow in popularity, Harper's Bazaar UK may have to elevate the Ubud to the top three literary festivals in the world!