With less than a month to go, the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is shaping up as another lively gathering of writers, readers, thinkers and storytellers in Bali, with a programme stretching from intimate author conversations to workshops, cultural events and discussions tackling some of the bigger questions of our time.
Among the newly announced special events are two conversations hosted by Georgina Godwin, presenter of Meet the Writers on Monocle Radio.
Godwin will sit down with Indonesian writer Tari Lang, author of My Neighbour, the Dictator, for a conversation drawing on Lang’s experiences surrounding Indonesia’s 1965 coup. As a teenager, Lang saw her parents jailed without trial before becoming involved in the political upheaval of the period. More than six decades later, she has turned those memories into a memoir exploring family, fear, resistance and survival. The event takes place at Oaken Lab Ubud on Saturday, 24 October.
Later that evening, Godwin will be joined by acclaimed novelist Katie Kitamura, whose latest novel Audition was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize and named a 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Their conversation will explore Kitamura’s life, influences and the ideas of identity, performance and truth running through her work.
The festival also moves well beyond the traditional author-on-stage format.
A series of special dining events will bring food, art and conversation together in distinctive Ubud settings. At Roemah Hanoman, guests can explore a private collection of indigenous Indonesian art gathered over four decades before sharing an Indonesian feast. Elsewhere, Gaya Ceramic and Design will host a candlelit four-course dinner among the studio’s handmade ceramics.
The main programme tackles subjects including human rights, collective memory, the death sentence, freedom of expression, global politics, migration and cross-cultural solidarity. Speakers from Indonesia and abroad will bring together perspectives from journalism, literature, law, activism and academia.
For writers keen to sharpen their own skills, the festival’s masterclasses offer a more hands-on experience. Sessions include travel writing with Agustinus Wibowo, short story writing with Yusi Avianto Pareanom, and a two-day retreat with Hong Kong writer Xu Xi focused on bringing Asian stories to an international readership.
That combination of serious conversation and creative exchange remains one of the festival’s strengths: a chance to hear from established writers, encounter unfamiliar voices and perhaps come home with a few new ideas of your own.
As Tari Lang puts it, returning to Ubud offers an opportunity to “learn, listen and exchange stories” — which is probably as neat a description of a writers’ festival as any.
Ubud Writers & Readers Festival
October 2026 — Ubud, Bali
https://www.ubudwritersfestival.com/programme
Festival passes, individual event tickets and the full programme are available through the official Ubud Writers & Readers Festival website.
