Lauris was lucky enough to skip some dodgy Melbourne weather and make her way over to Bali for the Ubud Writers Festival Oct 7-10, 2010. She reports back:
Amid tropical rainstorms, Balinese rice paddies, delicious food , and some stellar international authors – a stimulating and inspirational four days.
Some of the best moments:
- Listening to Booker winner Anne Enright with Caroline Baum on avoiding the cliches of being Irish
- Christos Tsiolkas who said his most despairing moments are when he realises that the sword might be mightier than the pen – because there is still so much suffering in the world – but then remembers how much great writers influenced him and so reaffirms his faith in writing
- Shane Maloney remarking that his hotel could have been a set for a James Bond movie
- Australians Jon Bauer and Nam Lee spotted zipping through the streets of Ubud on motorbikes
Rob with author Cate Kennedy and her daughter Rosie
The festival was amazing, it was great to catch up with everyone and every session I made it to was a lot of fun. But perhaps the absolute highlight of Ubud 2010 for me was leaving the opening night party and sharing a cab with the legendary Louis de Bernières! (And yes I did give him a business card…just in case.)
– Lauris
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