2020
Postscript
December 2020
Little did I know it at the time, but that picture from my sun lounge was to be the last last picture taken in Bali until god knows when. And the above email is ominously titled “Last Day in Bali”. I had no idea this was to be my last day in Bali for perhaps a very long time. Covid-19 has put paid to any visits I might have made to Bali this year and certainly to the 2020 Writers Festival. October came and went, and for the first time in 18 years, heartbreakingly, I was not in Ubud. The festival, under the name of Kembali (“Return”), went online with a program of pre-recorded talks, panels and interviews using some of the regular interviewers on Zoom from their homes across the world. It was an admirable achievement for Janet de Neefe and the Festival team in Ubud to put it all together and I enjoyed many hours zooming into stimulating discussions, listening to great writers, but….. it was not the same! It is not merely the books and writers, but the ambience of Bali, the presence of the gods, the camaraderie, the food, the bustle, the clashing strains of the gamelan, the aroma of kretek, the lush green of the rice fields, even the holes in the footpath and the chaotic traffic, that make the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival so magical. Maybe reading these jottings of my time at the festivals has given you some sense of that magic and why I am drawn back year after year. Hopefully next year in Ubud ……… or the year after……
Until then, my heart goes out to my Balinese and expat friends who are struggling to survive the health and economic crisis that has hit them so hard.
Post-postscript 2021
December 2021
When I wrote the above postscript who would have believed yet another October could go by without it being possible to attend the Festival in Bali? And another year of physical and economic suffering for the Balinese as the Delta variant wreaked havoc. Once again in October 2021 the intrepid Ubud festival team put book talks, interviews etc. online, with local expats attending some sessions at Indus in person. The online festival also linked at times with a book festival in Perth. Alas, the hybrid event was fraught with tech problems for those of us trying to join in from afar, making us more determined than ever to be in Ubud next year! Join me there!
Toni Pollard
Sydney
Until then, my heart goes out to my Balinese and expat friends who are struggling to survive the health and economic crisis that has hit them so hard.
Post-postscript 2021
December 2021
When I wrote the above postscript who would have believed yet another October could go by without it being possible to attend the Festival in Bali? And another year of physical and economic suffering for the Balinese as the Delta variant wreaked havoc. Once again in October 2021 the intrepid Ubud festival team put book talks, interviews etc. online, with local expats attending some sessions at Indus in person. The online festival also linked at times with a book festival in Perth. Alas, the hybrid event was fraught with tech problems for those of us trying to join in from afar, making us more determined than ever to be in Ubud next year! Join me there!
Toni Pollard
Sydney