Mixing work and pleasure in Ubud, Bali

Posted Sunday, September 30, 2007, 4:43 PM by Lonely Planet

Contemplating the other side of the table, Muhammad Cohen reflects how the writers festival circuit helped get him there...

I'm hardly glitterati, but the Ubud and Kuala Lumpur festivals were instrumental in making Hong Kong On Air. Silverfish Books, creators of the KL festival, published an excerpt of the novel that enticed me to keep at it, then a year later at Ubud, I was inspired by Hong Kong's Nury Vittachi. He said many people say "I've got a great book", but when he asks to read it say, "It's not finished yet."

Rule #1! Nury exhorted, is you must finish the book. So I cleared my calendar for a few months - 18 months, it turned out - to finish mine.

I had the good luck to get the book published and then accepted at Ubud, presenting the opportunity to mingle with 80 other writers here, plus more than 700 readers. In the few short days, a sense of community takes hold among the rice terraces and coconut palms.

Seasoned writers had plenty of advice for the book launch. My publisher preaches, "Nothing takes the air out of a room like reading from the book." But Philippine writer Reine Arcache Melvin and Hong Kong novelist Xu Xi both urged me to.

The launch was held at Tutmak, a trendy but casual restaurant near Ubud's central soccer field. In the end, I took the writers' advice and read. The audience of nearly 100 laughed - in the right places - with Vittachi and Silverfish editor Sharon Bakar seated in the front row.

I also participated in panel discussions with big names including Richard Flanagan and Adib Khan. Booker Prize winner Kiran Desai - lovely, charming, and witty (and taller than The Inheritance of Loss and her jacket photo suggest) - watched one and afterward said, "Come to lunch." I was thrilled.



But the panel on satire with new friends Kam Raslan of Malaysia and Sri Lanka's Manuka Wijesinghe was starting just then. So I turned down lunch with Kiran Desai. What a great and awful feeling I had as I pinched myself.


- Lonely Planet author, Muhammad Cohen launched his novel Hong Kong On Air at this year's Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

Labels: Asia and Pacific, Festivals and events

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