Curator’s Notes for the George Town Literary Festival 23-25 November 2012.

I am pleased to present the second George Town Literary Festival this year from 23-25 November in the historic city of George Town, Penang.

Our inaugural festival started with five internationally recognised Malaysian writers who worked with the theme, History and Heritage - Where Are Our Stories? It was an intimate, impactful and well-attended festival, which showed us that Penang was more than ready for a festival which celebrates writers and their words.

This year, thanks to the continued funding of the Penang State Government through Penang Global Tourism, I am honoured to present an international lineup of writers from the British Isles of England and Scotland, India and the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia who will engage with the theme Voyages. Hopes. Dreams.

As George Town has been a crossroads of many cultures for centuries, we hope that this year’s writers will continue to inspire audiences - and each other - in ways that will celebrate the diversity of the written word in its many genres and contexts, in the hope of multiculturalism, and a greater understanding and discourse of the human condition through world literatures.

We will also introduce our new partner, Writers Unlimited, the International Literary Festival from The Hague, Netherlands, which in seventeen years has created a literary festival that celebrates the diversity of the written word through its writers. We believe that this partnership will result in the shared vision and philosophy of working with writers who are committed to sharing their words and their experiences in the true spirit of exchange.

This year, we will have more writers and more music. We will look at theme of migration and diaspora, of the hopes and dreams of those who have traversed the world in the search of better lives, loves and truths.

We hope that the people of George Town will continue to support this literary festival, the only one in Malaysia, and to welcome our local writers and our guests in ways that only Malaysians know.

Bernice Chauly

Festival Curator

George Town Literary Festival