I'm still in the post-festival glow of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2011 so thought I could wring out one more post about how great it was.

Balinese dancers and future novelists at the UWRF. Photo courtesy of Chris Gosfield.

I had, as I hope my posts conveyed, an excellent time. I'd never been to a writers' conference or festival before so the entire experience was a new one, and far exceeded my expectations. My favourite part of the festival was the opportunity to meet so many like-minded souls -- both readers and writers. It was rare to have a conversation with anyone and have them not turn out to be incredibly interesting (and if they weren't, I could always fall back on talking about myself).

I'll admit that as a non-Australian, I wasn't familiar with a lot of the writers featured at the event where Aussies skewed heavily. This was wonderful in its own way, though, because I came home with a long list of previously-unknown books that I plan to read in the coming months. I'll also admit that I didn't know who Paul Kelly was, apart from the fact that Sam told me I really should listen to his stuff. Nevertheless, I knew to be impressed when he sat at my table and later, bought us a round of drinks [ed: name-dropper!].

Some of my particular favourites were: getting to see Agustinus Wibowo's amazing photographs, making filthy jokes with DBC Pierre, getting writing advice from Meg Mundell, being inspired to read poetry by Jaya Savige, hearing James Oseland, the editor-in-chief of Saveur, talk about food, finding a soul mate in Benjamin Law and hearing Trinity, Indonesia's leading travel writer, talk about her experiences at nude beaches.

But mostly, just being around a group of sharp, literary people was a pleasure and an inspiration.

Here are a few tips for 2012:

* Sign up for workshops and special events early. By the opening of the festival, most were already sold out.

* Book your Ubud accommodation early. Although there's lot of accommodation in town, you'll be happy to have that out of the way.

* Read the featured writers' books! I wish I had known I was going a little sooner, because I would have done a lot more reading, and had a lot more to talk about at the festival.

* Don't think too much about punctuation in the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival title. This is a recipe for head-wrecking.

The last session on the last day of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival was a boisterous debate between poets and prose writers about who was better at writing about that age old affliction, love.

No one ever reads poetry, right?

Arguing for the poets was Geoff Lemon, Australian poet and general ne'er-do-well, Russian writer and poet Oleg Borushko, and Alicia Sometimes, Australian writer, poet, broadcaster and musician.

Defending fiction was American author Melanie Westerberg, Pakistani short story writer Daniyal Mueenuddin and Kunal Basu, Indian novelist and loudmouth.

Australian stand-up comedian, actor, writer and pottymouth Corinne Grant was the host of the debate and presented some hilarious and confusing cut-ups between arguments.

Lemon started off the debate by stating, "We live in a world of simpletons, and love knows that." He went on to declare that the brevity of poetry made it a better agent of love.

He had the room in stiches when he stated, in full poetry slam form, "My mother liked her children the way she liked flour -- white and self-raising."

Kunal Basu replied "The baking soda forgot to stop, just kept rising and rising and rising." Whether this was in reference to the fact that Lemon is absurdly tall or an accusation about the size of his ego was unclear.

Alicia Sometimes read a poem defending poetry and ended with a quote from Beavis and Butthead: "Uh huh huh huh what's prose?"

On the side of fiction, Daniyal said "My first point is that no one ever reads poetry. No one values poetry or poets...would you want your daughter to marry a poet?"

Melanie Westerberg, in defiance of the poets' claims that prose writers are inherently long-winded, railed the poets for their obsession with white space and the "breath of the page", saying that love needed more space, and words, and then promptly sat back down.

Clearly fired up, Kunal Basu said "Brevity leads to premature ejaculation...there's nothing like a good novel that goes on and on and on and on."

And in his closing argument, Kunal announced to much applause "Poetry is everywhere, but so is malaria."

After (just barely) taming the room, Corrine Grant measured the applause and had to declare a tie. The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival audience gave full points to both teams for their ability to address love and bring a hilarious close to the festival.

Tags: poetry, prose

At the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival I got to catch up with Meg Mundell, a New Zealander based in Melbourne. She's just released her first book, Black Glass, a story about two teenage sisters set in a dystopian Melbourne. Meg's a talented writer with a wicked sense of humour and a special place in her heart for monkeys.

Meg Mundell: out of solitary confinement.

What is Black Glass about?

It's set in a world that's very like ours, so it could be the near future or a parallel reality. It's mostly in a city that's a very scary place. The main characters are two girls, sisters. They come to the city separately, and they have to survive off nothing and try to find each other. It's a very controlled world, and there's a huge social divide between the haves and the have-nots. It's about surveillance and the consequences of surveillance. It's a bit thriller, specfic and detective story.

When you were writing your book, did you intend it for a YA (young adult) or adult audience?

I didn't write with an audience in mind. If I start to have an audience in mind I freak out, because I know you can't please everyone. I didn't want to censor myself, so I didn't write for a YA audience. I hope, though, that this is a book that can crossover. My grandmother read it and she's still alive, she didn't have a heart attack. There are some scenes that school librarians might not like. But I met one yesterday and she said she ordered it for her library, so I guess it's not too filthy.

What sort of research did you do for the book?

I like walking around heaps. I like exploring weird places and forgotten places in cities and tumbledown corners and industrial sites, places where you're not supposed to go. I love that.

I smelled a lot of things. There's a character in the book who manipulates rooms and crowds by subliminal means by putting certain smells in to the air or sounds you can barely just hear, to manipulate you on a subconscious level. So I had to do a lot of sniffing, to explore different smells and try to imagine what subconscious effects that it might have on crowd of people. Mostly nice smells, though.

I worked at a magazine called The Big Issue [ed: an Australian magazine sold on the streets by homeless people to help them earn an income] for many years -- talking to the magazine vendors, that gave me really good experience to know what it's like to be homeless. I got to know some of them and they showed me around, where they sleep and that gave me some idea of what it was like to be homeless.

I also went on the Gravitron. One on the characters goes on it, so I had to go on it to remember what it was like.

What do you think of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival?

This is my first time being at an international writers festival, but I've been to a few in Australia. I think they’re really fun. Other writers are much friendlier than I thought they would be. It sounds corny, but they are quite supportive. I like meeting the person whose book you've read or meeting a person and reading their book, and meeting the readers, so you realise that there's a person on the other end of it.

Writing is so solitary, so it's nice when we all get let out of solitary confinement and go crazy together.

Who have you been most excited to meet?

Lina Goldberg. You're funny. And DBC Pierre was funny. He was making disgusting jokes with my boyfriend.

I also met Benjamin Law, who I was excited to meet because he's another Australian writer and we had heaps of fun. I met lots of really nice, funny people and swapped details with them and I'm going to stay in touch.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on a Ph.D. on literary sense of place, and I'm also finishing a non-fiction book called Braking Distance about outback trucking. I travelled with outback truckies for three months all around Australia. I just got a grant to finish it so it should be out next year.

Tags: Meg Mundell

One of my favourite panels so far at the 2011 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival was this afternoon's session on writing for children and young people, called Growing Young Readers.

Talking about writing for young readers at UWRF.

One of my least favourite parts about writers festivals (although I'll admit that this is my first one) is hearing writers read their own work. It's often long, painful and incredibly dull, even when the work itself is not. This wasn't a problem with the three Australian children's authors, though, who all read an engaging excerpt of their work.

Martine Murray has written books for children as well as a crossover novel that is marketed as both YA and adult fiction. "I wrote a picture book because I was at art school and it made sense," she said. "And then I wrote a novel because my publisher told me to. And then I thought, this is a better way of living than waitressing so I'll write another one."

Phillip Gwynne, an Australian currently based in Bali, read from his new book, Little Piggy's Got No Moves. With children, he told us, "you have the least forgiving audience in the world. Kids can smell a moral a mile away."

Moderator Benjamin Law asked, "So kids don't want parenting in their books?"

Phillip replied, to much tittering in the audience, "Fuck no."

And although Phillip Gwynne writes for children, he still uses swear words in his books. An angry parent complained about this, and, trying to get one of his books banned from schools, stood up and read all of the swear words from the book aloud in Parliament in Victoria. Phillip took it as a compliment. He did say, though, that you have to use swear words sparingly and effectively for it to "work."

Meredith Costain, a prolific author for children and young adults, said this about writing for kids: "It's hard." All picture books are 32 pages and about 400 words, she told us. "If I only have 400 words, they all have to be very good."

Tags: Benjamin Law, Martine Murray, Meredith Costain, Phillip Gywnne

My favourite part of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival so far has been the opportunity to meet so many young authors, who, as it turns out, are just normal people. (I think they become less so as they get older.) I had the chance to talk to Benjamin Law, a young Australian author whose memoir, The Family Law, is about his unconventional and off-colour family. He's also a surprisingly good arm-wrestler, which I shamefully admit to finding out the hard way.

Who would believe this guy can arm wrestle?

Benjamin has been to more that 30 writers festivals, and spent a few minutes with me today talking about writers' festivals and this one in particular.

What is the purpose of a readers and writers festival?

So that readers can engage with the writers directly, so that you can discover your new favourite writer, and get blissfully drunk in idyllic surroundings.

What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you at a writers festival?

A huge group of young girls swamped me after an event – they all read the magazine that I write for and wanted my autograph. It was surreal. That moment was then turned into a cartoon for Crikey by an artist called First Dog on the Moon.

Who have you been most excited to meet at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival?

I caught the bus over with Tariq Ali, the polemicist and writer. I really liked meeting Meredith Costain, I've met Phillip Gwynne before, he's cool. Meg Mundell is very funny. Clementine Ford is not on the programme but very cool.

What has been your best moment of the festival so far?

Hanging out, bumming cigarettes off of DBC Pierre and getting shouted drinks by Paul Kelly. Everyone's trying to keep their shit together when he's at the table.

How many pushups can you do?

Usually I do 4 sets of 25, but if I just did one set in a go I guess I could go to 35 or 40. I don't know. I've never tried to just go. Why are you asking me this?

Tags: Benjamin Law

I've been rushing around trying to attend as many sessions of the 2011 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival so that you, dear reader, don't have to. Here are some highlights from my favourite sessions so far.

The festival opening ceremony. Photo provided by Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

Life's But a Roll of the Dice
Yesterday, Australian-British author and Booker Prize winner DBC Pierre talked about his life growing up in Mexico, scandals in the UK press, anger as a motivator for writing and his mad youth. "We were dickheads. Just because we were young," he said.

"There comes a point when you have to stop and face yourself and take your licks." He also raved about chocolate milk. "Chocolate milk is a panacea -- a good hangover cure. It's really the test of a nation."

Food for Thought
Yesterday's panel, Food for Thought, discussed how food can be a conduit for understanding the culture of a place.

"Food and cooking are the best way to access the culture. The minute you get to Indonesia you should be eating an Indonesian breakfast," Peta Mathias told us. Peta is launching her latest book, Beat Till Stiff, at the Festival tomorrow.

The panel was asked the question, "As travellers, where do you draw the line with food?"

James Oseland, the editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine, doesn't. He's eaten, or would eat, anything, including field mice in Vietnam, insects in Northern Thailand and balut in the Philippines. "I can get scarier food at a fast food restaurant," he told us.

The Most Dangerous Man in the World
Four Corners journalist Andrew Fowler talked about Julian Assange and Wikileaks...and of course, the whistle-blower Bradley Manning.

"Yes, he is being painted in the media as a loser," Andrew said, "but I think if you're looking at 50 years in jail, it's hardly a win."

The Inner Truth: Why I Write
"When you have a drunk narrator you can ramble and have inconsistencies...and even though it's your fault as a writer, you can pass it off as the narrator," Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka revealed.

Lots (and lots) of words at Why I Write?

He read an excerpt from his book Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, a tale of Sri Lankan society told through the eyes of a drunk cricket enthusiast. "Unlike life, sport is eternal. Unlike life, sport matters."

Also on the panel was Egyptian writer Khaled Al-Khamissi, whose novel Le Monde recounts what was happening in Egypt through the eyes of 58 taxi drivers. It has been referred to as the novel that predicted the recent uprising.

Khaled told us about how he learned about the value of books when he ripped a page out of a Tolstoy novel and was forced to stand against a wall for eight hours as punishment.

"At that age, at two and a half, I learned that books are important."

Today's session at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival called 'The Cycle of Rice' was about living simply, consuming less and sharing more, and how it all related to rice farming in Bali.

Rice farming in Bali -- it's pretty, but it ain't easy.

The panel's host, Gouri Mirpuri the author of Eco-Heroes of Indonesia, introduced the panelist Steve Lansing by saying, "You can't talk about rice and Bali without talking about Steve Lansing."

"He's the rockstar of rice," Jan Reynolds, another panelist and the author of Cycle of Life, a Story of Sustainable Farming.

Steve Lansing is an anthropologist and the author of five books, one of which, Perfect Order: Recognizing Complexity in Bali was called a seminal work by both of the other panelists, who seemed a bit star-struck to be seated next to him. Bali is the only place, Steve joked, that a guy who writes books about rice is famous.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Steve last night, and interrupting him soon after to request that he try and dumb down his vocabulary so that I could understand it.

In the coming week, Steve will be meeting with UNESCO to create a world heritage cultural landscape site in Bali. The underground waterways and irrigation canals in Bali are over 1,000 years old and governed by an ancient system of democratic negotiation between the farmers to share the water resources.

Finding ways to create ecologically-friendly tourism in Bali that actually benefits the locals (unlike Angkor Wat, Steve pointed out) is crucial.

Other well-intentioned attempts to increase the farmer's revenue has actually harmed them, like planting new, fast-growing rice varieties that ended up being out of sync with the traditional irrigation systems, and causing serious harm to the environment.

Another panelist, Kirk Johnson, is the Director of the Bali Field School at the University of Guam, and the author of From Classrooms to Rice Field: Cultivating Connections through Field Studies in Bali, Indonesia.

Kirk brings groups of students from Guam to Bali to learn about the culture and rice farming. The students are inspired by how the Balinese value and retain their culture and learn from the challenges that Bali faces in the face of modernity.

The two biggest challenges facing rice farming in Bali are chemical pesticides and tax issues that raise the taxes of neighbouring farmers when any farmer sells in order to build a villa on their property. This causes a domino effect -- the taxes rise on the farmer's neighbours who then decide to sell as well, and more valuable rice farmland is lost.

Even the smallest offering costs something (photo Adam @ SitDownDisco)

The panel also talked about the function of ceremony in Balinese culture. The Balinese spend a huge amount of time and money on various ceremonies (including ones related to rice farming) but these ceremonies have allowed them to maintain and preserve their culture in the face of modernity.

Rob Lilwall is the author of Cycling Home from Siberia, a book about his expedition across Asia, Australia and Europe by bicycle. When he was 27 he decided to fly to the furthest, most remote place he could think of and try and make his way home from there.

Rob Lilwall signs books for a crowd of future long-distance cyclists.

He spent the next three years cycling his way -- with the help of the odd ferry or two --  from Siberia back to England. Admittedly he didn't take the most direct route possible, hitting Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong (where he met his future wife), Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland and Belgium before returning to the UK.

He started his journey in Siberia, a place he confesses he didn't know a lot about before he left. When he arrived, in September of 2004, the locals told him that he wouldn't make it. In one month, they said, it would be winter and he would die from the cold. Other Siberians argued and said that no, he wouldn't die from the cold – he'd probably be eaten by a bear. Not so! Other Siberians protested, he'd be far more likely to be killed by wolves. And that's how Rob's cycling journey began.

Rob Lilwall is a speaker at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, and quite frankly a good one. He's transitioned his three years on the road into a career as a motivational speaker, and after hearing him on a panel and then in a solo talk, most of the audience was ready to chuck everything and cycle across China, including yours truly.

There are lots of positives that come along with a trip like this, we learned. At least once a week locals would invite him in for a meal or to stay, he met friendly locals in the countries that he thought would be most unfriendly, and had only the highest praise for countries that other travellers (like David Sedaris) find challenging. “China was just a joy,” Rob told us. “Good roads, friendly people and cheap noodles, what more could a cyclist ask for?”

Pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal...

Rob admitted to doing lots of research online about upcoming stops while on the road, stopping at Internet cafes to find out more about the places he was going (we can only assume at Travelfish.org).

After weeks of hunting for a boat that could get him to Australia, he finally made it through frantic networking and a little luck, and then cycled the Nullarbor Highway which was nearly empty...apart from a Japanese student he ran into who thought it was too easy to cycle across Australia so instead he was walking, and pushing a baby buggy filled with his travel supplies. This Rob told us, should make us think that his three years on the road wasn't actually too crazy, at least compared to the baby buggy guy.

In Siberia Rob endured -40 degree weather. To explain how that feels, he suggests that you put your hand in the ice cream freezer at the supermarket. Now imagine that, doubled. Then imagine leaving your hand in that freezer for six months. That's a Siberian winter.

His secret to survival, much like my own, is to eat as much cheap, fatty food as possible. Noodles and ice cream were both on his list of meals he ate to keep his energy up. And he's certainly going to need it! In three weeks Rob leaves for his next journey (and book), Walking Home From Mongolia.

Now Rob is based in Hong Kong and he's going to make his way back on foot from the outer reaches of Mongolia. Seems a long way to go for material, but Rob is certain to make an adventure, and probably a mini-series out of it.

Tags: Rob Lilwall

The 2011 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival has started with a bang in Bali, and the streets of Ubud are teeming with readers, writers, and, as usual, taxi drivers, hopefully searching for fares.

Opening ceremony of UWRF, photo by by Chris Gosfield.

Authors from more than 20 countries are here, as well as countless readers -- with Australia well represented. (Although during his session, author DBC Pierre admitted to having his Australian citizenship revoked.)

One of today's sessions was about life as an adventure -- exploring the world and telling the tales.

Out of my comfort zone

This session featured Trinity, Indonesia's leading travel writer, Brit Rob Lilwall, who wrote a book about this three-year journey cycling home to London from Siberia, and Jan Latta, an animal photographer and author of a series of books for children about endangered species.

As any traveller can attest to, travel often means getting outside of one's comfort zone, and often staying out of it for weeks -- or months -- at a time. This session explored what it is about risk that makes travel exciting. The authors talked about the different risks they had faced in their travel, from dealing with armed robbers to charging rhinos, to, in Trinity's case, visiting a nude beach (the Indonesian government later banned the story about her experience on the grounds that it was pornographic).

Travel is all about getting out of your comfort zone.

Trinity says she travels because, "I want to know how I can overcome my fear ... and it makes good copy!" Big laughs from the room, and probably a sales spike for Trinity's series of books, The Naked Traveller. Indonesians don't travel much, Trinity explained, and are hampered by the difficulty in getting visas to visit other countries, especially outside of Asia, and they just don't have the freedom of most Western travellers.

"The worst type of fear is just before you go somewhere scary -- the night before you go," Rob Lilwall said. He had good reason to be nervous, it seems, travelling through Afghanistan and Pakistan and getting robbed at gunpoint in Russia. In Papua New Guinea he was accosted by two men, looking to rob him. Reflecting on it he wondered if maybe they weren't really trying to rob him, but were just trying to be friends. It's these moments during our travels that force us to come face to face with our own preconceptions and prejudices, he explained. (I'll have more on Rob's travels later.)

Facing risk while travelling is inevitable, but the real problems can be back at home, as a writer. "It's much easier to stand your ground against a charging rhino than to get your book in a local bookshop," Jan said.

She left us with this parting piece of advice: "Never look a gorilla in the eye." Apparently they really don't like it.

Tags: Jan Latta, Rob Lilwall, Trinity

Congratulations to Gabriela for winning our competition giving away a full four-day pass to the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

October 5 - 9 2011. Be there.

The competition was simple. Tell us in 25 words what "Bali" means to you.

This was Gabriela's entry:

"Pacifying bad spirits, fearing ricefield rats.
Feeling adrenaline in left-hand traffic.
Happy ducks.
Why is so much human harmony possible?
No abysses here?
Discover praying."

Thanks to everyone who entered and see you at the festival!

Many thanks to Soma Helmi for selecting the winning entry.