The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| Myanmar festival celebrates new literary freedom Posted: 02 Feb 2013 07:12 AM PST  Visitors browse books on sale at a stand outside a hotel hosting Myanmar's first international literary festival in Yangon on February 1, 2013. – AFP pic Authors hailed the festival – supported by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – as a breakthrough for creativity after years lost to stifling censorship rules under the generals who ruled the country for decades. "There was no freedom at all before," said poet Saw Wai, who was jailed under the former junta for writing a satirical poem about the regime. "As censorship has been abolished, we have become able to be more free and open," he said, adding that poetry and cartoons were becoming increasingly "bold" with their satire. For decades censors vetted every article, book manuscript, photograph and illustration before publication, eliminating anything considered inflammatory or damaging to the nation's former military rulers. But the quasi-civilian government that took office in early 2011 has effectively abolished direct censorship as part of the reforms sweeping the country. Organisers of the Irrawaddy Literary Festival want to exploit Myanmar's new freedoms to encourage bolder writing and debate. "When I saw how difficult it was to buy a book – new books or modern literature at all – that's what give me the idea," said event organiser Jane Heyn, the wife of the British ambassador to Myanmar. "The main purpose of the festival is to provide a platform to exchange ideas, to exchange writing and discussion." Around 25 international authors and some 120 local writers and poets are participating in the three-day festival at Yangon's Inya Lake Hotel. In a scene that would have been unthinkable under the junta, visitors openly browsed Suu Kyi's books along with other literature at stalls and exhibition displays blanketing the waterside lawns. Vikram Seth, author of "A Suitable Boy", historian William Dalrymple and China's Jung Chang, who penned the epic "Wild Swans", will join Suu Kyi – herself the author of several books – for a panel discussion today. One debate on Friday was due to cover the future of freedom of speech with renowned poet-comedian Zarganar and dissident author Pe Myint on the panel. "For many years we didn't have a chance to collaborate like this. We've never experienced an international festival before," Pe Myint said. – AFP/Relaxnews |
| Jane Austen House Museum opens 200th anniversary exhibition Posted: 01 Feb 2013 09:26 PM PST  The Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton. — Picture courtesy of shutterstock.com Included in the exhibition are not only original illustrations by Hugh Thomson but also personal correspondence sent from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra, which refers to the novel as "my own darling child." Timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of "Pride and Prejudice" on January 28, an event commemorated throughout the year by special edition books, theatrical performances and festivals, the Jane Austen House Museum's bicentennial exhibition includes several additional events. Visitors on April 1 will be treated to "Scenes from Pride and Prejudice" throughout the House and its garden, as performed by the Ruffled Umbrella theatre company. A writing workshop on March 2 and repeated on April 27 is entitled "But Intricate Characters Are The Most Amusing" and studies the creation of relationships, characters and conflict in fiction; interested parties are advised to book ahead, as the earlier March date has already sold out. The Jane Austen House museum is open weekends only until February 15, after which daily admission begins. It can be reached by a train service that runs from London Waterloo station to Alton, 1.6km northeast of Chawton, by bus from Winchester, or via the A31 trunk road. — AFP-Relaxnews |
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