The theme of the 2022 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is Uniting Humanity. Our writers, Clarissa Goenawan, Siang Lu and Alton Walley offer their various perspectives on how writing and creative practice can help us to have richer conversations about race, deepen our appreciation for diverse cultures and unite humanity, one story at a time.

Clarissa Goenawan is an Indonesian-born Singaporean writer and translator. Her short stories have won several awards. Rainbirds, her debut novel, has been published in eleven different languages. Her second novel, The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida, came out in 2020. Watersong is her third novel.

Siang Lu ’s fiction and literary reviews have appeared in Southerly and Westerly. He holds a Master of Letters from the University of Sydney. He has written for television on Malaysia’s Astro network. In 2021, Siang won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer for The Whitewash. He has been the program manager for a global, multi-million-dollar initiative to deliver cutting edge AI solutions to the legal industry. He is based in Brisbane, Australia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Alton Walley is a Whadjuk, Wilman, Kaneang Nyoongar man from the South-West of Western Australia. Alton has been heavily immersed in his culture since he was a young boy, being fortunate enough to have access to, and engage with, a wealth of knowledgeable cultural figures. He has been dancing and playing music with the Middar dance group since he could walk, performing locally, nationally and internationally.

***
Doors: 2:55 PM
Start: 3:00 PM
Show Duration: 45 min
Entrance: Main Entrance located on William St.
Age Suitability: 18+
Content Warning: N/A
Accessibility: Please contact [email protected] for any accessibility enquiries.