In Other Words 2023 program announced
OzAsia Festival has announced the program for In Other Words, its three-day writing and ideas event, to be held in Adelaide from 3 to 5 November, as part of the festival’s final weekend.
The program will feature over 60 Asian writers and thinkers from Asia and Australia and will debut books from 22 writers, as well as featuring 28 free events. Topics include pop culture, travel, politics, romance, memoir, poetry, food, humour, LGBTQIA+, mental health, music, fantasy and fiction.
Guest speakers include award-winning authors Shankari Chandran, André Dao and Simone Amelia Jordan. The festival will also welcome three Malaysian writers (Shih-Li Kow, Wan Phing Lim and Saras Manickam) in an exchange with Penang’s George Town Literary Festival to mark the 50th anniversary of both the Adelaide Festival Centre and the sister-city relationship between Adelaide and Penang.
Other highlights of the festival include cookbook authors Sarah Tiong and Poh Ling Yeow in conversation with Benjamin Law about food, cooking and cultural connections; Myeongseok Kang talking about his book Behind the Story: 10-year record of BTS (Macmillan); cookbook author Durkhanai Ayubi in a conversation titled ‘The Voice and South Asian activism’ with Sukhmani Khorana and Kersherka Sivakumaran; Chandran speaking on the themes of race and identity in fiction writing with Karina Robles Bahrin, author of The Accidental Malay (Picador) and host Sami Shah; a poetry showcase with Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, Thuy On, Adolfo Aranjuez, Lian Low, Amani Mahmoud and Grace Yee; children’s author Oliver Phommavanh presenting a session on humorous stories for younger audience members; and story-time sessions with Freda Chiu’s A Trip to the Hospital and Dinalie Dabarera’s Quiet Time with My Seeya (both A&U Children’s).
Festival curator Jennifer Wong will host the opening night gala on the theme of ‘a moment of outspokenness’. In this event, eight writers will share stories about moments they spoke up and what happened next. Wong will also host a comedic closing night debate on the topic ‘Australia needs more tiger parents’.
The ABC Radio National show Stop Everything will take over the festival centre’s Banquet Room with a live broadcast, while the Asian Australian Studies Research Network will also hold the eighth Asian Australian Identities Conference at the festival, in partnership with the University of Adelaide.
OzAsia Festival artistic director Annette Shun Wah said: ‘In Other Words has become the meeting place for great Asian and Asian Australian minds, engaging in conversations that are rarely aired anywhere else. From the profoundly moving to the outrageously funny, this program reaps the riches of a diverse range of perspectives and experiences.’
See the full program on the website.
Category: Local news
