2024 Festival Highlights | Crafting Characters

2024 Festival Highlights | Crafting Characters

Author: Ubud Writers & Readers Festival January 27, 2025 Duration: 1:01:12

The creative process of character development is one of the most crucial elements of storytelling. Revisit this one-of-a-kind meeting of literary minds between prolific Indonesian author Abi Ardianda, Irish fiction writer Alan Murrin, and bestselling Malaysian novelist Ong Chin Huat, as they discuss the art of balancing traits, desires, and fears to create relatable protagonists, formidable antagonists, and other memorable characters that bring fictional worlds to life and create rich, unforgettable stories.

This one-of-a-kind conversation, moderated by the arts and culture editor of Guardian Australia, Steph Harmon, is now available to watch at ubudwritersfestival.com/media, or tap the link in our bio to listen to this session on podcast platforms like Spotify and Simplecast.


There’s a particular energy that fills the air during the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Podcast, a feeling of being part of a vital, global conversation. Produced by the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival team, this series captures the essence of the annual gathering, preserving its most compelling dialogues for anyone who couldn’t be there in person or who wants to revisit a moment of insight. Each episode is drawn from the festival’s 2025 highlights program, featuring a rich mix of local and international voices from the worlds of literature, art, and social thought. What you’ll hear are not just interviews, but genuine, meandering conversations where ideas collide-discussions that grapple with history, dissect our current realities, and thoughtfully consider how the stories we tell influence what comes next. This podcast serves as an invitation to linger in those spaces where writing meets activism, where personal narrative intersects with culture, and where reflection sparks new understanding. It’s for anyone curious about the power of words and the people who wield them to shape our collective future. Tune in for a dose of intellectual vitality and the kind of authentic exchange that makes the Ubud festival a landmark event.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Podcast
Podcast Episodes
#UWRF22 Festival Highlights | In Conversation with Michael Vatikiotis [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:52
Enjoy another one of our #UWRF22 Highlight Session with Southeast Asian correspondent Michael Vatikiotis who talks about his book Lives Between the Lines, a paean to a time when the Middle East was still a bastion of cos…
#UWRF22 Festival Highlights | From Book to Screen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:21
Adapting a book into screen can be a delicate process. Listen to US-based Singaporean novelist, Kirstin Chen, as well as Indonesian writer, Ahmad Fuadi, and film director, Kamila Andini, as they discuss this issue with i…
#UWRF22 Festival Highlights | Where is Indonesian Art Going [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:04
In the week’s #UWRF22 highlight episode, the Indonesian artist, Saras Dewi, and the Director of Museum MACAN, Aaron Seeto, come together to discuss the journey in tracing the development of contemporary art in Indonesia.…