Writing from the George Town Literary Festival

November 2022

The ornate Khoo Kongsi house in George Town, Penang, Malaysia

Read work by some of the authors participating in the 2022 George Town Literary Festival, an annual literary festival taking place between November 24 and 27 in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.

A portrait of Ko Ko Thett in red suspenders standing in front of a field of yellow flowers

Picking Off New Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring: An Interview with ko ko thett

By Eric M. B. Becker

Even under a most repressive censorship regime or even in a most watched jail cell, writers and artists will find channels to express themselves.

Photo by Julian on Unsplash

Spring

By Nga Ba

Dreams, denied, / turned into maps.

Translated from Burmese by ko ko thett

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash

After Time

By Fahd Razy

Today, you finally saw the earth after its rebirth.

Translated from Malay by Adibah Abdullah

Photo by Todd Turner on Unsplash

The Strength of Water

By Gawani Gaongen

“Do not make the water angry,” they say.

Translated from Kankanaey by the author

Multilingual

yellow smoke curling against a black background

Photo by Олег Жилко on Unsplash

kretek-ing

By Zahid M. Naser

bloodrush like the swell of desire in a room / surging higher and higher to my eyes, craving life

Translated from Malay by Pauline Fan

MultimediaMultilingual

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