Things are changing fast in Yangon. Even a year ago brand new cars were a rarity on the roads. Now there are luxury sedans with tinted windows and shiny new SLVs clogging the main thoroughfares, turning traffic jams into a daily routine.
Luckily our taxi drivers knew all the short cuts to get us to the inaugural Irrawaddy Literary Festival in Yangon, held last month. No, I wasn’t travelling alone. I was Mother Hen to nine other writers who had signed up for a Burma writers’ retreat (beginning at the festival and ending on the plain of temples at Bagan). Like me, none of them could let this historic opportunity pass.
Festival organiser Jane Heyn, the wife of the British Ambassador to Myanmar, first discussed the idea two years ago with Aung San Suu Kyi, not long after her release from house arrest.
A year later, following changes in Myanmar’s visa and censorship laws, the idea became a reality. Heyn gathered the support of BBC correspondent Fergal Keane and William Dalrymple (author and founder of Jaipur Literary Festival) and Daw Suu, (as Aung San Suu Kyi is respectfully known in Myanmar), became the festival patron.
By late 2012 the list of guest writers had grown to include some impressive international names: Jung Chang, Vikram Seth, Pascal Khoo Thwe, Caroline Courtauld, Jocelyn Dimbleby, Rory Stewart, Victor Chan, Rupert Arrowsmith, Rory Maclean and more, as well as 120 Burmese writers, scholars and poets including Thant Myint U, U Thaw Kaung, Pe Myint and poets Pandora, Zeyar Lyn and Nyein Way,
The Inya Lake Hotel, with its classic sixties architecture set among lawns and gardens leading down to the lake, was the perfect venue. The grand ballroom and three other conference rooms were in use simultaneously from 10 am to 7 pm.
With a jam packed festival schedule we managed to fit our daily writing workshops around the events, ducking off to various sessions and reporting back.
Some of my favourites were: George FitzHerbert’s talk on the Tibetan Bard tradition in Oral Traditions and Literature in Tibet and Myanmar; listening to local and international poets discuss a new book of Burmese poetry, edited by James Byrne and Ko Ko Thett, called Bones Will Crow and Other Works; hearing how Jung Chang (acclaimed author of Wild Swans) became a writer; and being enthralled by the photo journalist adventures of Rick Danzinger and Thierry Falise.
Others in our group proclaimed it was worth coming all this way if just for the fascinating session with William Dalrymple and Rory Stewart: Return of A King: the Battle for Afghanistan 1839 – 42; or learning about Narrative Non Fiction from Indian author, Akash Kapur in discussion with Burma’s Pascal Khoo Thwe (From The Land Of Green Ghosts) and Burmese author/historian Thant Myint U (grandson of former UN Secretary General, U Thant).
Travel writers picked up invaluable tips from the differing techniques of British travel authors, Rory Maclean (Stalin’s Nose), Caroline Courtauld (Myanmar/Burma in Style) and London based journalist Monisha Rajesh (Around India In 80 Trains), while Burmese short story writers: Lay Ko Tin, Shwegu May Hinn, Khin Pan Hinn, Nya Linn Phyu, humourously moderated by Min Khwite Soe San, illustrated the creative methods they used to get their message across under Burma’s strict censorship laws.
When I asked how their writing has changed since censorship laws were lifted in August, the moderator answered, ‘now I can write what I like, but finding a publisher to print it is another matter.’
On Day 2 despite queuing for over an hour for the ‘in conversation’ session with Aung San Suu Kyi, our hopes were dashed when we were told it was full.
But we had front row positions when Daw Suu spontaneously appeared on the terrace flanked by minders and volunteers, to speak to us of the importance of literature as a way of understanding and learning about each other.
We listened closely but her words evaporated in the collective excitement we felt at being in her graceful and principled presence (while also attempting to get the perfect ‘I was here’ snapshot).
Later in the day when the crowds had thinned, there was a better chance to see her in a panel session where Fergal Keane asked Daw Suu, William Dalrymple, Vikram Seth and Jung Chang, which book or poem they would take with them on a desert island.
The irony was not lost on us that Daw Suu had been on such an island for 15 years, but she played along like a good sport, giving different examples of her favourite books to the ones she had mentioned in the previous session – George Eliot and Victor Hugo, whose characters ‘maintain their spiritual strength to the end.’
Telling of her love of detective novels she said, ‘I am the chair of the Rule of Law Committee and detective stories have helped me. You know who the villain is the more you read. It helps you to work out people’s motives. The detective story asks who is going to profit from this crime. It’s very good for politicians.’
Of western poets she listed among her favourites: Tennyson, Shakespeare and Yeats while her beloved Burmese poets are Zawgyi (1907 – 1990) and Min Thu Wun (1909 – 2004). Both were pioneers of Burma’s khitsan style of poetry of the 1930s which challenged traditional literary forms.
When asked ‘if you were to write the story of Myanmar’s last two years would it be a detective story or poetry?’ Daw Suu replied, ‘Poetry – I hope our nation will be a nation worth writing about.’
At the festival’s end we headed off on our Bagan retreat, sated, inspired and exhilarated. There was no need to remind my writers of of Daw Suu’s words:
‘Through books you learn…. about yourself. You find out your own troubles are nothing compared with others.’
For the longer version of this article go to: http://writingontuktuks.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/aung-san-suu-kyi-at-irrawaddy-literary.html
Find out more re all the writers who attended the Irrawaddy Literary Festival: www.irrawaddylitfest.com
