Travelling with books - finding favorites.

This is a story of my favorite book, Water Shining Beyond The Fields, by poet and artist John Brandi, while travelling through the same SE Asian countries he was writing about.

Before I tell you about this wonderful book, I have to tell you how I found it. In 2009 I set off on a six week journey through SE Asia. For the first part I was following the footsteps of my literary icon, the French writer, Marguerite Duras,  (The Lover) through Vietnam. She was born in 1914 to French school teacher parents who were living and working near Saigon (when Vietnam was part of French Indochina) and she spent most of her first seventeen years growing up in small towns along the Mekong River.

I started in Hanoi, searching for the ‘house near the small lake’ that Duras lived in as a four year old. I didn’t find it, but it did prompt the beginning of my S.E. Asia bookshop crawl, as I went searching for clues in any bookshop I came across. In the process I found some other book gems, so perfectly in-sync with my trip, that I often felt they were placed on there just for me.

John Brandi’s haibun journal was one such find. I was fresh from the two day boat trip up the Mekong River from Saigon to Phnom Penh when I wandered into Monument Books, a large aircon emporium of great books ( and as I was to discover, with branches also in Laos and Myanmar).

Whether it was the cover, the title, the size, the paper, the pen and ink haiga drawings, that made it leap off the shelf into my hand, didn’t matter. I knew my trip was worth it just to find this book; a haibun travel journal written about the places I was travelling to. Too perfect!

After reading (no, savouring) Brandi’s book, haibun has become my favourite genre.

Haibun is a prosimetric (def: combining prose and poetry) form of descriptive writing that can be traced back to the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho. He used it in his own travel journals, most notably his famous Narrow Road To The Interior.

In haibun the author describes a place, an event, person or scene in a paragraph or more, then punctuates it with a haiku ( a Japanese three line poem). The haiku shouldn’t merely repeat the description but take the reader to a deeper level of reflection and perception. (Modern haiku allows the poet all sorts of leeway and deviation from the strict 5-7-5 syllable rule; see Cor van den Heuvel’s excellent English language collection: The Haiku Anthology).

John Brandi is a master at it. Born in California in 1943 he is an inveterate traveller/painter/poet who traces his influences to the West Coast Beat tradition, Federico Garcia Lorca and the Japanese haiku masters. His work, published by numerous small presses and journals in the US has won a number of awards.

In the beginning of Water Shining Beyond The Fields,  Brandi tells how since boyhood he has always written down small incidents of travel, but not until the late 1990’s did he start punctuating his prose snippets with haiku.

In outlining his haibun writing process Brandi says:

These journeys were recorded as they unrolled, details usually scribbled in spiral note books on a bus, in a temple corner, cliff hopping, riding a bike rambling markets or ducking underneath a verandah in the rain. Late evening or next morning, cross legged on the floor, in a cafe, or on a rare chair before a desk, the scribbled prose blocks, with occasional haiku in between, would be transferred to a larger notebook. At home, after travels, I took to transcribing the journals. Donkey work at times, but mostly a pleasurable chance to relive the journey and discover where, exactly,  I had been - from a comfortable distance. The biggest effort  was to remain true to the notebooks, the immediacy of the first hand “takes” - no alterations to make the travels into something they weren’t .

The fact that he was describing a similar process of writing to the one I was practicing on my travels  was affirmation enough, but when I stepped into his haibun writing, all I could feel was excitement.

Brandi records what he sees, makes lists of concrete detail, evokes the senses: the taste, scent and texture of things in the same way Natalie Goldberg advises writers to do in her Zen classic: Writing Down The Bones. “He gets inside and outside things” says beat poet David Meltzer who first published his prose poems. " His work seeks source and renewal in new geographies and in the act of travel with its inevitable encounters and mysteries." It’s the opposite to 'fancy' writing, rather very down to earth, like his description of the sellers at Angkor Wat:

A few water vendors are hanging out; children mostly; and a woman hawking pirated guides to the ruins. Even at this hour the humidity is strong:

the postcard seller
folds out all ten views
and fans herself.

 He even turns others’ thoughts into a haiku as he retells a conversation his Angkor Wat guide, Ponheary Ly, a genocide survivor (who I met on my next trip).


We talk about world leaders, their inability to dissolve their egos, conquer their own greed. Ponheary punctuated the discussion with her thoughts about war:

“even if you win
you have the word
‘lost’ inside”


His haiku of course can also stand alone.You can skim through the book just taking inspiration from poems like:

in the empty niche
where Buddha sat
bees at work

stone vaults collapse
roof becomes sky, stars shine
from rain pools

fields shimmer
beyond a gate
made of reeds

One of my favourite passages describes his last night in Phnom Penh.

More beers, then too a quiet, surreal, restaurant, furniture piled downstairs, big clock ticking near the door. Jeff treats us to mint-onion-lime spicy shrimp salad, basil-beef curry and seafood satay. The waiters have smiles and dirty sleeves; they bring candles, disappear into the shadows. The dining room opens to a balcony overlooking a row of jagged rickshaws parked between moonlit frangipanis, as if in a sinister Shanghai 1936 movie. What a wonderful meal; what a strangely perfect place to say goodbye:

in the kitchen
fish playing in cold water
under the butcher block

 A couple of days later I tucked Brandi’s book tightly under my arm and set off for Angkor Wat. No Lonely Planet Guide for me, but the words of a poet leading me through temple ruins which for hundreds of years had lain hidden beneath the Cambodian jungle.

The sun doesn’t completely burn through the moist shade. Growth is turbulent, the odor herbal. A sweet exotic rot. Locusts whine among broken eaves and fallen porticos:

not the gods
but the banyans
preside.


(c) Jan Cornall 2013
Italicised text is from Water Shining Beyond The Fields - Haibun Travels, South East Asia.
John Brandi.

 Buy now

Jan will lead Haiku Walking in Japan in Nov 1-11, 2016. This unique 10 day creative adventure will follow the footsteps of Japan’s famous haiku poet Matsuo Basho through an autumn landscape. Beginning in Tokyo we will follow Basho’s pilgrimage route staying in inns, hot springs and local hotels, walking 2-3 hours most days ( train and car in between) and ending our tour in Kyoto. Open to writers, poets and creative artists of all modalities. Daily creativity workshops will take their inspiration from our explorations of the haiku form. Bringing our attention to observing the small details of nature in the present moment, we learn how to take this stimulus into our chosen art form, creating a haiku journal of poems, observations, sketches and writings as we go. Itinerary, bookings and more info here

Jan Cornall is writer, performer and teacher who leads writing retreats in inspirational locations: Bali, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Bhutan, Japan, Morocco. A regular guest at festivals in the Asia Pacific region, Jan has performed her spoken and sung word at Ubud Writers Festival, Utan Kayu Literary Biennale (Jakarta), Hong Kong Literary Festival, Irrawaddy Literary Festival (Burma), Darwin's Wordstorm, QLD’s Reality Bites. Her novel Take Me To Paradise (set in Bali) was launched at Ubud Writers Festival in 2006. Jan is currently working on a book of short stories with Indonesian author Triyanto Triwikromo and a travel memoir that follows the footsteps of Marguerite Duras In Indochina.
www.writersjourney.com.au

Up Close and Bookish with Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar’s First International Literary Festival.

Jan Cornall

Things are changing fast in Yangon. If you want to catch the old Myanmar you had better visit soon. Even a year ago brand new cars were a rarity on the roads. Most of the taxis were clapped out old models with non-existent shock absorbers and though a ride across town was hot and bumpy, getting anywhere was a breeze. 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 back ways and short cuts to ferry my group and I to the inaugural Irrawaddy Literary Festival which took place in Yangon in last month.

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.

While it may have been Asia's best kept secret when I heard about it in late November, I put the call out to see who wanted to join me. Within two weeks nine writers had signed up for a writer's retreat that began at the festival and ended with four days workshopping their own writing projects among the eleventh century temples of Bagan.

The Inya Lake Hotel, with its classic sixties architecture set among lawns and gardens leading down to the lake, was the perfect venue (although some felt downtown would have been more accessible to local audiences). From February 1-3, the grand ballroom and terrace and three other conference rooms were in use simultaneously from 10 am to 7 pm.

On the terrace, intermittent performances of traditional music, story telling and marionettes entertained the in-between crowds. Across the lawns, stalls sold books, local food, craft and clothing, and a sunset boathouse housed spontaneous poetry readings and discussions.

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).

While the the festival had a very British feel, Australia was represented by Jane Camens, director of the Asia Pacific Writers and Translators Association, who moderated a session with Michael Vatikiosis on his recent novel  "The Painter Of Lost Souls " set in Indonesia after the fall of Suharto in1998. And I landed a spot in the sunset poets reading, collaborating in song with Nyein Way on his poem, “Smile Of A Leaf.” 

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!"

Choosing which session to attend was often painful. I gave up Vikram Seth in conversation with Akash Kapur, to attend Trends in Contemporary Myanmar Poetry, expertly moderated by Burma's leading female poet and blogger Pandora, author of "Tuning, An Anthology of Myanmar Women Poets".

On Day 2 we sacrificed our penciled in sessions when we saw the queue to the afternoon ballroom event with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, beginning to form. We inched slowly forward for an hour or more only to have our hopes dashed when it was announced the session was full. However, we were told, Daw Su would come out and speak to us at the end of her talk ( which was also broadcast outside) as she was aware so many of us were waiting.

The pay off for our patience was we now had front row positions when Daw Suu appeared flanked by a crush of minders and volunteers, and spoke from the podium 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 joy 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 thinned (no rest for Daw Suu who went off to another function in between), 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." 

In that session, 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 favourite 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 the 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."

If the amount of publicity the festival has received in the international press is anything to go by, indications are good.  But as Jane Heyn and her husband move on to another posting, the question remains - who will step forward to make the festival happen again?

My group of writers would sign up for it tomorrow. Sated, inspired and exhilarated, we felt humbled and privileged as we shared stories of people we'd met, sessions attended, connections made, inspiration/information received, new experiences of a country and culture the world still knows so little about. 

At 5 am next morning while awaiting our flight to Bagan in the perfectly preserved Pelligrini’s style coffee bar in the domestic terminal, I found myself hoping (like Thant Myint U who spoke of his work to preserve Yangon's heritage buildings), that not all of old Myanmar gets swept away in the rush to progress.

But you can smell the money pouring into this town as a battalion of ATMs are wheeled into place. They are not quite functioning yet but it won't be long. Soon you won't have the inconvenience of bringing all your spending money in clean US dollar bills (no marks, no creases, no tears), for fear of it being rejected by your hotel or local vendor.

And yet inconvenience, discomfort, is exactly what a writer needs to get his/her characters jumping. Without it the story would be too boring, too bland - like global 7-Elevens on every corner wherever you travel, selling you the same old stuff.

There are no 7-Elevens on the plain of Bagan - just temples and pagodas as far as the eye can see - 2,200 of them. We take our inspiration from them as we did the festival; gathering stimuli, detail, sensory impressions, and applying them to our writing projects. 

Some of our stories are set in Burma, others in the heart of Australia or a far off mother country, but we use the notion of being somewhere completely out of our range of experience to take us deeper into the stories we know we must write.

On a sunset cruise on the Irrawaddy RIver we read to fellow writers (strangers before this trip) things we would never attempt read before. We are rewarded for our bravery, for daring to speak the emotional truth of our characters, for giving them not just IQ, but the "EQ" ( emotional intelligence) and "SQ" ( spiritual intelligence)  Daw Suu spoke of, when in reference to her favourite novel,  Les Miserables, she said, " what we need is a spiritual revolution."

The temples on the shoreline begin to glow as we drift soundlessly back to the jetty, golden light rippling in our wake.

There is no need to remind my group of Daw Suu's words, "Through books you learn.... about yourself. You find out your own troubles are nothing compared with others."

 (C) Jan Cornall Feb. 2013

Jan Cornall is a writer/performer who leads writing retreats in inspiring international locations - Bali, Fiji, Laos, Morocco, Burma. www.writersjourney.com.au

Find out more re all the writers who attended the Irrawaddy Literary Festival: www.irrawaddylitfest.com

Top Ten Writer's Retreats

Articles about Jan Cornall Writer's Journey.

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Newsmaker

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Walking with legends

Arts Hub

Writing holidays that inspire

By Jan Cornall ArtsHub | Wednesday, September 14, 2011

We all know writing can be a lonely business. I spent years wondering - was I was really depressed or did I just need to speak to another human being every once in a while. A decade ago when I began teaching writing, my motivation was purely selfish. I needed a workshop to find out if other writers were going through the same torture and thought perhaps I could offer a thing or too about my writing process that might be helpful. 

After leading workshops around Sydney, I began running weekends at a friend’s B&B in Braidwood and in 2004 I took a group to Bali in conjunction with the first Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, which I was also helping out with. I’d been a student of meditation for many years and so it was second nature for me to develop a meditative writing method which I still use, to take writers deep into sense memory. It began producing startling results. People couldn’t get enough of it and so I was back and forth to Bali every three months working with local writers, expats and Aussie travellers who weren’t about to let the threat of terrorism ruin their writing holiday.

Around the same time I was approached by Raymond Hawkins, a walking guide who runs trips to the Central Desert and Tasmania’s old growth rainforests. I jumped at the chance to work closely with writers in these vastly contrasting landscapes and have just completed my tenth ‘walk and write’ with his company Into The Blue.

I decided to call my company Writers Journey because that’s essentially what I do – support writers on their journey in the most inspiring places I can find. At the moment I have four annual trips going out but I’m always on the lookout for more.

The Writers Journey year starts in March with Breakthrough Writing in Fiji. The first thing you notice when you get off the plane is the way Fijians walk. It’s the slow relaxed gait of people from a tropical clime. There’s no point in hurrying and besides it’s just too darned hot. The rush, rush of our city-folk ways seems suddenly ludicrous and as you begin slowing it down and remembering this is the pace human beings are supposed amble along at.

It is just the kind of advice writers need. We think we have to push, push, push, to get our work out there, but first we need to slow it down to below the beat of our heart. Daku Resort in Savusavu Bay on the second island Vanua Levu, is just the place to do it. This sleepy little backwater with only one main street doesn’t know the meaning of traffic jam or deadline. It’s all ‘rubber time’ here and so it should be in a writer’s world. That doesn’t mean we slack off or don’t turn up to the morning workshop, but in a week of breakthrough writing, we let time stretch out so there’s room for everything.

By the end of the week these writers can’t understand why they still feel so relaxed when they have all been working so hard. We pack our bags, sorry to leave, resolving to keep the slow Savusavu roll in our step when we arrive back in the land of the busy.’ Finish what you start’ is my parting advice and ‘remember, when it all gets too hard, just come back to the writing, that’s all you have to do’.

Next up at the end of June, is Desert Writers. Timed to coincide with the Alice Springs Beanie Festival we buy our outrageous fashion beanies to keep our heads warm on the cold desert nights ahead. By day we have sun hats and sun block out but for sleeping in swags under the spectacular Milky Way, nothing can surpass wearing a tea cosy to bed. Each day we walk (3-4 hours) and each day we write (as much as we want to) with workshops in camp and on track. Our first camp is below Mt Sonder, a women’s dreaming place, with day walks to Ochre Pits, Ormiston Gorge and along the wide riverbed of Davenport Creek. Then we swing around past Gosses Bluff to our Tjilpa camp, kindly provided by Traditional Landowners Mavis and Herman Malbunka, who join us for dinner to tell the stories of their country and take us off next morning for secret men’s and women’s business.

All week we work not only with the senses but the elements; earth water, wind, fire, space; noticing their action on the landscape we walk through, using them as prompts for revising writers craft and asking what our writing needs more of – the fluidity of water, the grounding of earth, the freedom of air or wind, the intensity of fire or the openness of endless space? We arrive back in Alice like journeyers who have been out back for a long time, hungry for the mod con’s of life, while already missing the sense of having connected so deeply with earth and sky and the camaraderie of fellow writers.

Backstage Bali, is a different version of my old Ubud writer’s retreat follows in July. Since the phenomena of Eat, Pray, Love turned this serene hill town into a grid lock of busloads of newly arrived western women (hoping the same thing that happened to Elizabeth Gilbert will happen to them), I knew I needed to find a new venue. It just so happened that my Bali publishers had taken over the running of their family hotel in Kintamani, high up on the ridge looking over the lake of Mt Batur, a majestic volcano rising up from its shores.

In her early twenties New Zealander Sarita Newson married into a Kintamani family whose ancestry can be traced to the earliest ‘tribe’ who arrived here. It is into the bosom of this extended family we land for our six day journey following the compass of Balinese cosmology around this magnificent lake. Each day after morning workshops we head out with tasty lunches wrapped in banana leaf, on excursions corresponding to the elements, senses and directions: to a temple of writing in the north, a forest hermitage in the east, the hearth of a traditional Bali Aga house in the south, the holy springs of Sebatu in the west, and finally into the centre of the caldera itself.

Our guides are Sarita’s son Kadek (environmental engineer) and her daughter Trisna (architect) although it seems everyone working with us from drivers to musicians to cooks are somehow related. We have also sponsored some local writers to take part, something I am committed to doing wherever possible. A young writer from Java, West Papuan poet John Waromi, Balinese artist Made Suryadharma, Bali poet Ketut Yuliarsa and local expat writers join us, adding an infinite depth to our workshops and insights into the country we are visiting for just a short time.

The week is over too quickly but for me it’s time to get busy with my November trips - two weeks by the Mekong River in the charming heritage listed town of Luang Prabang, Laos. Taken individually or rolled into one, the first week we will write all day and read by night while the second has morning workshops with afternoon excursions to source materials and inspiration for making small artist books and zines. Meanwhile temples, night markets, local restaurants and riverside cafes, perfect for writing in, are all within walking distance.

 If two weeks seems too short who’s saying you have to leave? There’s a clever publicity slogan being used by sustainable tourism operators all over Laos – ‘Stay Another Day’ This time when I wave my writers goodbye I will stay more than another day, for my own writing time, because in the midst of all this journeying, the idea of being a lonely writer again has somehow turned into a delicious fantasy.

Read more at www.writersjourney.com.au

Art Is Today - Gang Festival, 2008

Art Is Today - An Oz/Indo Celebration of Art and Urban Life

By Jan Cornall  published in artsHub | Wednesday, January 16, 2008

If you are lucky enough to have gotten a $150 ticket to see Bjork perform on the Opera House steps in this year’s Sydney Festival you might well be pinching yourself with excitement. You might also pause for a moment to muse on Bjork’s beginnings as an artist. Chances are it was in a rundown artist warehouse that has since been converted into million dollar apartments, the fate of most artist run spaces in Sydney in recent years.

But if you think today’s generation of young artists have gone to ground or moved to the suburbs, think again. They may get turfed out of their low rent, prime real estate spots and squats, but they are expert at sniffing out new properties lying fallow right under our noses. Such artist run collectives (isn’t it nice to see that word so in use again) are also expert at running all sorts of events and festivals on the smell of an oily rag, which is how ‘successful’ big fat festivals like Sydney’s own, get their start.

It seems odd in our abundance (compared to countries that have none) of arts funding and corporate sponsorship, that this would be so, but we all know there is only so much arts mulla to go around and there can be a certain freedom in not spending months filling out endless applications full of’ flavour of the month artspeak’ only to be knocked back because you don’t quite fit the latest criteria. You could use that time to MAKE ART for example, or just go ahead anyway, with contingency plans in place - Plan B - if we don’t get all the funding or a Plan C - if we hardly get any, or Plan Z/F – zilch! fuck it! we’re gonna do it anyway!

Gang Festival, taking place this Saturday in the laneways of Chippendale, Sydney is a great example of contingency strategies in action. When a substantial funding portion for their festival didn’t come through they were not short of alternate ideas, and resorting to Plan B, C or Z/F doesn’t mean their festival is diminished in any way. In fact it could well be more vibrant and exciting, as they call in the help of local artist communities and become super creative in finding the resources they need to get the show on the road.

This is a skill well practiced in Indonesia where the Gang team have spent many years as arts workers collaborating with arts communities there who receive little financial support for their festivals and street art events.

Their time in Indo inspired the first Sydney Gang festival in 2005/06 - an ambitious exchange project between Gang and the Yogja street art collective, Taring Pady. Twenty Australian artists travelled to Yogykarta as arts residents and ten Indonesian artists came to Sydney to take part in a number of exhibitions and events including the first Gang laneway festival in Chippendale.

This year Gang is hosting a number of events and exhibitions over Sydney’s summer period. Sisa - an excellent exhibition of Indonesian art with the theme - Reuse Collaboration and Cultural Activism, at UTS gallery has been and gone. Currently showing, another inspirational exhibition at Pine St Creative Arts Centre, Chippendale, is TUK – Works for the Environment .

The Gang festival day, centred around the Pine St Peace Park and laneways or gang (in Indonesian gang means alleyway), is called 'Art Is Today' in honour of the West Sumatran festival Gang participated in last year.

Gang’s partner community this year is 'Tanam Untuk Kehidupan, or TUK (Planting for Life) a dynamic environmental arts collective from Salatiga, Java, Indonesia. Gang took part in their Mata Air festival in December last year - an eight day environment based event centred around a natural spring in Salatiga village.

'Art Day is Today' will feature a sound stage and live sites with a line up of Indonesian artists, performers,and Sydney artists including Gypsy Dub Sound System, CuzCo (WireMC + Choo Choo), and the Uberlingua djays. Along with visiting artists from TUK - Ayok and Rudy Ardinato, the festival is bringing out Nova, who is one half of the rap duo TwinSista from East Java as well as accomplished author and poet Triyanto Triwikromo, and two artists from the environment arts collective Anakseribupulau, Djuadi Suami and Exi Wijaya, plus the breathtaking four-piece percussion ensemble Kuno Kini from Jakarta. There will be a makers market, zine fair, lane way art, writer’s alley, free screen printing (BYO shirt), rubbish workshops, and picnicing in Peace Park.

While the big city festivals trundle on over weeks or a month Gang gives us a short sharp shot of art. You have to be quick or you might miss it - it lasts only five hours, from 3- 8 pm. But as a cross-cultural happy hour fest where families can bring the kids and a picnic, make their own recycled art, taste new tastes, write on the story wall in Gang Tulis, sit down lesehan style and meet Oz/Indo writers and artists, listen and dance to an eclectic mix of sound, noise, music, Indo rap, and percussion and witness underground urban performers trying out their moves, surely it must take the prize for being the most interesting and innovative of Sydney’s festivals.

Spontaneous, alive, new, fresh, inclusive, engaged –the Oz/Indo art mix is alive and irresistible. Not slick and corporate like big festivals that become too big, nor predictably the same as very other suburban festival you have ever been to, neither can it ever be equated with bad art. The new aesthetic being created by artists who exhibit their work in Gang related events in Indonesia and Oz is thrilling and exciting.

Co - directors Rebecca Conroy and Ali Crosby, both passionate art makers, are committed to a process of creating places where people can make and experience art. Any one who has traveled or worked in arts communities in Indonesia will recognizes this special flavour and spirit present in the Gang festival and events. It is a raw, grass roots, people inclusive, engaged art vibe, that has been missing from our lives for too long.

Bjork I am sure would feel right at home in Gang. In fact I think an invitation is being dispatched as we speak - only I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.

Storm of Words Reach out Across Seas - The New Anthology Terra.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/06/11/storm-words-reach-out-across-seas.html
Jakarta Post 06/11/2007

Jan Cornall, Contributor, Sydney
A new storm is brewing across the small stretch of sea separating northern Australia from its neighbors. One of its by-products is a bilingual anthology from WordStorm, the Northern Territory Writers Festival, held in Darwin.

Some of the best writers and poets from Indonesia, Timor Leste, Singapore and Australia are represented in a new book titled Terra, launched June 2 at the Sydney Writers Festival.

All the writers have one thing in common: They have all been guests of the WordStorm festival since its conception in 2004.

This impressive volume of 65 short stories and poetry by 45 authors -- including Indonesian writers Ayu Utami, Nukila Amal, Linda Christanty, Triyanto Triwikromo, Iswadi Pratama and Dorothea Rosa Herliany -- is edited by Sandra Thibodeaux in Darwin and Sitok Srengenge in Jakarta, with most pieces translated by Kadek Krishna Adidharma in Bali.

Funded by the Australia-Indonesia Institute and ArtsNT, Terra is published jointly by Indonesia's Kata Kita and the NT Writers Centre.

Hot off the press only days before, it sold like hotcakes at the launch venue overlooking Sydney Harbour, where a crowd had gathered to hear select readings from Terra.

Editor Thibodeaux explained the history behind the book and its title, then the audience were treated to some moving readings.

Readings featured a short story by Aboriginal elder Alec Kruger was read by co-author Gerard Waterford, as well as a play excerpt about Indonesian and Malaysian students in Melbourne by Alana Valentine, a sad yet funny Martini story from Frank Moorhouse and an ode to Sydney by Mike Merrill titled Night Knows.

Indigenous Australian poet Romaine Moreton read her poems, Beside the River and Freedom Now, followed by their Bahasa Indonesia translations read by Jarrah Sastrawan, a high school student.
The power of this moment was not lost on those in the audience -- Indigenous Australian writing read by a young man who carried more than a hint of Indonesian poetic tradition in his voice as his father, Balinese poet and musician Ketut Yuliarsa, looked on.

It is also fitting that the Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale, based in Jakarta, and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) in Bali, would be launching Terra this year. The movement of writers and their work traveling between new festivals in the region has nurtured the latest cross-cultural literary wave just starting to break on our shores.

The triad of WordStorm, the Utan Kayu biennale and the UWRF has nurtured a strong flow of communication between writers, publishers, translators and the reading public.

A series of readings at various cultural centers across the archipelago are planned for the Indonesia launch of Terra at the two international literary events. Supported by the Indonesia-Australia Language Foundation (IALF), readings will also be held at all IALF English teaching centers.

Terra, like Utan Kayu's bilingual festival publications, provides a great model for other festivals to follow. Funding for translators is key to turning this wave into a significant movement.

The benefit to the literary community goes without saying: When some the best writers from each featured nation are compiled in a single volume, readers who wouldn't normally travel so far afield are able to partake of a literary feast without leaving home.

No travel warnings or visa problems here. Instead, a bunch of neighbors have reached across terra firma and written up a storm.

Writers Journey Alumni

In the past decade a number of the writers, artists, poets, performers and film makers I have worked with have gone onto publish books or produce their scripts and creative works. While my mentoring role is just one part of the complex process of creating and completing a work, it has been my great privilege to be of assistance in planting the seed or helping to bring the works below to fruition. Some of those creators include:


Ingrid Woodrow - my first literary mentee, who I mentored through the Hunter Writers Centremany years ago. Her book Goddess and The Galaxy Boy, Penguin, was shortlisted for the Vogel Award.

Lorraine Mcloughlin Barbara Robertson - An Australian Artist's Life and George Tetlow and Mark and Jill Pearce, Lives in Art. Independent (Art/ biography)

Ruth Salmon There Are No Coincidences Independent (Travel memoir)

Anne McLeod  Adventurous Spirit, the exceptional life of Marie Byles. Independent (Biography)

Colleen Keating  In Touch With Poetry and A Call to Listen Ginninderra Press.(Poetry)

Minnie Biggs  Shards of Ice Ginninderra Press.(Memoir)

Michelle Leber The Yellow Emperor  Five Islands Press. (Poetry)

Tamarra Kaida - Ogoh- Ogoh Balinese Monsters Saritaksu Editions (Photography)

Biff Ward In My Mothers Hands, Allen & Unwin.(Memoir)

Jennifer Smart  The Wardrobe Girl, Random House. (Novel)

Niromi De Soyza  Tamil Tigress,  Allen & Unwin. (Memoir)

Hilary Linstead Growing Old Outrageously, Allen & Unwin.(Memoir)

Kate Veitch Moments Alone, Griffith Review. (Article)

A.D. Scott  Beneath The Abbey Wall, North Sea Requiem, Simon & Schuster USA.(novels, mystery)

Marguerite van Geldermalsen Married to A Bedouin, Virago.( Memoir)

Anne  Lovell Connie's Secret, Allen and Unwin. (Memoir)

Margaret Wilcox Gone, Penguin. (Memoir)

Margo Lanagan Tender Morsels, Allen & Unwin, Random House, Knopf, Johnathon Cape UK. Sea Hearts, Allen & Unwin.( Fanatasy novel)

Catherine Therese The Weight Of Silence, Hachette Livre. (Memoir)

Yvonne Louis A Brush with Mondrian, Murdoch Book. (Memoir)

Mary Delahunty Public Life, Private Grief, Hardie Grant. (Memoir)

Raymond Hawkins The Electronic Swagman, Halstead Press.(Memoir)

Walter Mason Destination Saigon,  Destination Cambodia, Allen &Unwin.(Non Fiction, travel)

Gabrielle Wang  Poppy series of YA fiction were conceived in a dry river bed on Desert Writers.

Margaret Stepenson- Meere The Child Within the Lotus, Rockpool. (Non Fiction)

Bridget McKern  Living The Journey, A&A Publishing.(Non Fiction, biography)

Marg Carroll The Man Who Loved Crocodiles and Other Stories, Allen and Unwin.(Non Fiction, biography)

Betty Grenenger Dare to Look Deep, Best Legenz. (Memoir)

Elizabeth Vongsaravanh  Dharmageddon - (Poetry)

Deb Batton Regrets, I've Got a Few, (Physical theatre piece)

Pamela Cook  Black Wattle Lake Hachette ( Rural fiction)

Sonia Bible Recipe For Murder, ABC documentary.(Film)

Sunny Grace Short Films Producer including award winning Dik.(Film)

Helen Cummings  Blood Vows, Five Islands Press. (Memoir)

Donna J Lehl Karma Finds The Cameleon,  Aberdeen Bay. (Memoir)

Jacqueline Buswell Song of A Journey Woman Ginninderra Press (poetry)

Monique O'Donnell Mr Right and Other Mongrels Amazon (Novel/romance) Monique has gone on to write and publish a 

Kadek Krishna Adidharma - articles for the Jakarta Post, blog, arts writing.

John Waromi first ever novel by a Papuan author Anggadi Tupa, Harvesting The Storm Lontar  translated by Sarita Newson.(Novel/magic realism). WJ sponsored John to attend two Bali retreats.

The Writers Dozen,  a group that continued on after our year long First Page to First Draft course in 2005 at NSW Writers Centre, went on to publish a collection of their writings in Better Than Chocolate.

Robert Schneider, came to one of my early Bali retreats and again to Angkor Wat. He has since made a career for himself in Cambodia as a freelance writer. His memoir Serendipity Road was published in 2017.

Julie Anne Thorndyke, acclaimed haiku and tanka poet. Her novella, Mrs Rickerby's Lullaby is published by Gininderra Press. 

Libby Sommer is an acclaimed short story writer and poet. She worked on a number of her stories for The Crystal  Ballroom (Ginninderra Press) with us at Draftbusters.

Jan Mantjika's memoir Bali 1964 to 2009: The Shadows that Dance in and out of my Memory, pub by
Saritaksu Editions, was assisted at a number of our bali retreats.

I had the pleasure of working on Desak Yoni's Renditions of My Soul, The Story of a Balinese Woman with Sarita Newson. It was published in 2014.

Diana Plater's new novel Whale Rock is published by Indie Mosh. Diana attended a number of retreats in Fiji, Bali and Angkor Wat as well as Draft Busters.

and many more...

PS. My apologies if I have omitted your publishing or other creative accomplishments. Please send me the details so I can update the record asap! 

Another Oz/Indo Collaboration

Australian Cultural Residency Vignettes
by Triyanto Triwikromo
First published in Indonesian in Suara Merdeka, February, 2008.
The writer was a participant in the Gang Festival Literary Residency in Sydney, Australia in 2008.

Transversal Waves from the Gang Festival
Great events do not have to be born from grand festivals or mega flashy stages. It is highly possible for a small yet inspirational festival to lead to stories that resound with an acute power to astonish and create unending transversal cultural waves.

The small lane was called Pine Street. In that lane, filled with paintings and sculptures from Australian-Indonesian artists, I began my literary residency activity in the Land of the Kangaroo, 17 January till 7 February 2008. It was in the Pine Street Creative Arts Centre with Rebecca Conroy and Alexandra Crosby (Gang Festival Co-artistic Directors) to be precise, that myself and Jan Cornall, the Sydney-based writer of the novel Take Me to Paradise, were able to convey some literary ideas in an event entitled Gang Tulis and Literary Lesehan on the 19January (Writers’ Lane and Casual Literature).

What did we do then? Unlike the usual literary celebrations in my homeland, Jan and I exhibited our works (by sticking book covers and photocopies of short stories) on the walls of a hallway that participants had to pass through on their way to the discussion. Not only that. Jan also neatly arranged her novel and compact disc Jan Cornall Singing Srengenge on the discussion table, whilst I spread my short story anthologies, Children Sharpening the Knives and Malam Sepasang Lampion (The Night a Pair of Lanterns) in an artistically messy style – on the table which was also being used to sell jamu kunir asem (turmeric tamarind herbal medicine drinks).

Then, guided and interpreted by Indonesian cultural commentator Suzan Piper, Jan and I spoke about everything that I was planning to do in my literary residency supported by the Dewan Kesenian Semarang (Semarang Arts Council), the daily newspaper Suara Merdeka, Kharisma Pena Kencana (Jakarta), Kaisa Rossie travel bureau (Semarang), Padepokan Bumi Walisongo (Pati), Capung Organizer (Semarang) and the restaurant Mirasa (Kensington).
Starting from the premise of frequent perceptual misunderstandings between Australia and Indonesia in various fields, we are indeed now collaborating to write the book Reading the Signs (Tafsir Isyarat). The book will contain seven short stories with Indonesian settings and characters written by Jan Cornall and seven short stories with Australian settings and characters written by me.

Three Letters
Of course at that time we could not yet show the results of this collaboration. Instead I chose to read my essay ‘Tiga Surat (Bukan) Cinta untuk Jan Cornall’ (Three Non Love Letters to Jan Cornall). In those letters indeed I speak of the misunderstandings of Australians surrounding the fundamentalism, liberalism and silent majority that is developing in Indonesia. Concerning fundamentalism I said to our audience:
It’s an intertextuality. It never exists in a single form, complete in its own singular self. It always appears in plural or dispersed forms. Thus if you continue to consider that only the Forum Pembela Islam (Muslim Defenders’ Forum) is rightfully viewed as fundamentalist, you are making a big mistake. Those who wanted to ban the making of Garin Nugroho’s film Opera Jawa for reputedly belittling Rama-Sinta are also fundamentalists in their wish to defend their gods.
That’s why in my country fundamentalism is not identical to Islam or terrorism. In my country Christians who commonly say ‘When you are struck on your right cheek, offer your left one’ are also capable of killing Muslims. My country with its Muslim majority can also give birth to Muslims who kill other Muslims with modern techniques. Yes, yes I consider the people involved in the killing of (human rights lawyer) Munir to be fundamentalists as well.

Concerning liberalism I also blabbed on to Jan:
No doubt you consider that in modern societies the liberals prefer liberal democracy with open and fair general elections, which allow all citizens to have equal rights under the law and the same opportunities to succeed. And yet in my country liberalism is something humorous, an intermezzo and sometimes merely the butt of jokes. And the joke about the Liberal Infidel Network hits home the best. It is a way of convincing the public that liberalism is just a dream. It is something equally as absurd to imagine as existing freely in our country as all the other sorts of isms such as terror, horror and humour that are given rein to here.

Then about the silent majority I only muttered:
It is a sort of cultural wave or tsunami that strikes from time to time. The silent majority, you should know, in fact grows out of something that Goenawan Mohamad considers to be the ethics of humility. This is an ethics of viewing oneself humbly, and because of that humility, respecting other people, respecting the other.
Reactions to this text of mine were quite varied. Jan said the text had encouraged Australians – like her – to reinterpret their understandings of Indonesia.

‘Wow, your thoughts should be heard by a wider circle. Let’s re-perform this text of yours at the Consulate,’ said Deva Permana. This musician from Bandung, who currently resides in Sydney, was not just being polite. He subsequently invited Ernezto Messakh (keyboard player) and Ron Reeves (flautist) to arrange a musical composition that could be used to respond to the rather long essay. Finally together with the music group Kuno Kini and rapper Nova we indeed did perform at the Wisma Indonesia. Beyond expectations this performance made people ask about my other works.

‘Does this performance already have a CD recording?’ asked someone.
‘Not yet. But I have a book that can explain my views about Australia.’ God have mercy! As soon as the show was over the audience rushed for my book – which was selling for twenty Australian dollars. This made Deva keen to put on another show at the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra. ‘Only we must include Jan Cornall so there is a response presenting the Australian view.’

Eventually the ‘Indonesian-Australian instant group’ wrote a new composition for Jan Cornall’s performance. The composition which was more ‘Western’ in style was in response to Jan Cornall’s ‘essay reply’ to mine. Jan, who is indeed a performer and singer, performed the essay skilfully in the Anton Aalbers Common Room, Toad Hall, Australian National University. ‘This made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end,’ said Bandung painter Syaiful. ‘I was moved. I cried watching your performance.’

And so it was. From the small lane everything flowed unimpeded crossing other spaces and times. The Gang Festival, which was very underground in nature, had blasted a small performance into a larger and different event. It had become a transversal cultural wave.

A Mini Indonesia in a Slice of Sydney
Prophets, physicians, shamans, even maestros are often ordinary people who are not well-known in their hometown. Rudy Ardianto, the artist from Salatiga who now lives in Sydney, is also one of those people. ‘Unknown’ by the Indonesian art world, the polite man who manages TUK (Tanam Untuk Kehidupan – Planting for Life) has in fact become one of the important icons of the Sydney underground art scene. Even more surprising is the fact that it was at the Pine Street Creative Arts Centre that I came across the results of his creative activities, that include running the Festival Mata Air (Water Spring Festival) in Kalitaman, Salatiga. Since there were also artistic photos of the arts celebration at the Senjoyo and Kalitaman springs displayed on the walls, my thoughts naturally leapt to the problematic possible closure of these public baths, formerly known as Kaligedong, and other public spaces in Salatiga. ‘It’s not possible to fight for ‘caring for the environment’ only in your own town. That’s why I also displayed works linked to defending the environment here,’ said Rudy.
Rudy who is in fact one of the participants and moving forces in the Gang Festival did not only bring works to do with water. He also brought Imam Bucah’s rich mini sculptures made from scrap wood. Rudy it seems, wishes to inform the world about how grand works of art can be born out of recycled materials.

That is why when viewing the works on display – which included the paintings of Bob Sick and installations of S. Teddy D’s in that ‘mini gallery’ – what I saw in fact was the sensation of a small Indonesia constructed from re-used goods. Indonesia in this way although consisting of old materials could nevertheless be represented anew. It became something fresh through the perceptions of Rudy and friends: something unique, fascinating and freshly illuminating for others who view Indonesia from across the ocean.

Another Indonesia
At the Gang Festival – especially the part put on at Bill + George Creative Studios – I also discovered the sensation of a small Indonesia in other forms. I met rapper Nova – daughter of Indonesian rocker Totok Tewel – who belted out truly inspirational rap songs in Indonesian. She criticised people who do not love the environment. She hilariously attacked people enslaved by stupidity and in league with pollution through her song ‘Smoke.’ Nova, who is still quite young, seems to be a singer from another sort of Indonesia. ‘I can’t be stopped from talking about things that disturb my common sense. I know that Australians – even the women – like to smoke. But to be honest I must criticise their unsound behaviour,’ said this cute girl who was on her three-month musical residency of Australia.

An equally unique appearance was that of the group KunoKini. This Jakarta- based group, playing various traditional musical instruments, bravely took on the songs ‘Rasa Sayang’ and ‘Yamko Rambe Yamko’ in ‘full cool’ arrangements. Given the opportunity to perform their songs with mostly reggae and rock influenced rhythms with an Afro beat, these four young men Bhismo, Bebi, Fizy and Akbar communicated well with the Australian audience. They also performed the composition entitled ‘Techno Java’, mixing various types of Javanese musical rhythms in a modern musical structure, forming a bridge between Java and the outside world, or at least Australia. ‘All we want is for our music to be heard by the young. One way is to play various traditional musical instruments the way they want it. Till now they consider us to be cool players of traditional instruments,’ said Bhismo, the leader of the group which is about to perform in Croatia.

The Indonesia that is not being shaken by the ’arts auction tumult’ can also be found in the installation works of Djuadi and Exi. These two eccentric guys from the Blora-based anakseribupulau (Children of a Thousand Islands) community were also in an arts residency in Sydney. They do not want the earth to be destroyed by anyone and this view is reflected in their installation works which in general depicted the arbitrary treatment of nature by the industrial world. ‘Indonesia doesn’t just belong to the people at the top. People you don’t even know have the right to save Indonesia from the gluttony of greedy people,’ said Exi who is an expert at playing crazy dangdut songs.

Well, they are the friends who, for one to three months, enjoyed a cultural residency through the support of various sponsors, funding bodies, and of course the moving forces of the Gang Festival itself. Although they did not act in the name of, nor were they funded by the state, yet they still brought all the scratches, beauty, jokes and complaints, as well as other Indonesian phenomena. ‘Indonesia is top, Man!’ said Exi.

The Underground
What did raise a question was why the festival, held in this gang or lane, was called Sydney underground art? Did the participants have to appear ‘underground’? The first question can be easily answered. To view ‘legitimate art’ people may at any time visit the Sydney Opera House. Indeed almost all types of ‘clean’ art like Nigel Jamieson’s work The Theft of Sita or Shaun Parker’s This Show is About People can be nicely watched at this extremely representative theatre venue almost every day. However, shows that are difficult, unconventional, anti-establishment, that attempt to overcome various world problems in a creative way, cannot always be found in such ‘polite spaces’. This is why the Gang Festival indeed designed a display of art, music, literature, or whatever was considered to be ‘special’. It was this extraordinary quality that enabled the ‘lane’ to be conjured into a gallery and a stage displaying beauty. There was no need for those fine paintings to feel a need to drop their prices because they were shown in alleyways.

Of course not every participant felt a need to appear dressed like a crazy person. I was one of the participants who did not appear with a punk haircut. I was also not one of the participants to come to the forum with long hair, clothes in tatters and a body covered with tattoos. However, to Rebecca Conroy and Alexandra Crosby I said: ‘It’s my stories that are underground. So my craziness is apparent from my thoughts. I will present Sydney’s controversies in underground stories that will be unsuspected by the people of Sydney.’

I do not know whether these two sweet girls discovered my underground side whilst I was in Sydney. What was clear was that they were satisfied and that they will give me the chance to present the results of my literary residency some time in the future. Well, finally we should be grateful that the mini Indonesia – that emerged from the various Indonesian artists that were invited to Australia – indeed eventually showed its potential to colour a slice of Sydney.

More info re Gang Festival

Art work, posters, brochures, flyers.

Archipelagogo book cover
Saritaksu Editions 2013
painting, Jumaadi

Take me To Paradise book cover
Saritaksu Editions 2006

Take Me To Paradise digital e book
Cover Louie Joyce

gang re:Publik(co editor)
book cover design by Makeshift 2008

At The Crossroads -  touring musical
Poster  1997
produced by Women On a Shoestring Theatre Company

Standing Up Bent 1983
Poster by Bob Daly

Failing In Love Again 1980
Poster and cassette cover
by Jan Fieldsend

Failing In Love Again poster 1980
by Bob Daly

Jan Cornall, Singing Srengenge on ABC Radio

You can find an interview with Jan featuring her work with Indonesian poet Sitok Srengenge on ABC Radio here. Interview by Sarah L'Estrange

Presenter - Bali Institute 2008

From: http://www.baliinstitute.org/presenters.html

Jan was a presenter at the Awakening Global Action Conference in Bali alongside international experts and leaders.

KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) elected president in 1999, and heads the world's largest Muslim organization with nearly 40 million members. He was the recipient of the 2003 Friends of the U.N. Global Tolerance Award. A Sunni Muslim, he has a progressive mindset and immense spiritual authority, advocating religious tolerance, pluralism and democracy for over 30 years. (invited)	Jan Cornall is a writer, performer, teacher and facilitator, who runs popular meditative writing seminars, workshops and retreats in Australia and the Asia Pacific. Since 2004 she has performed her spoken and sung word at literary festivals throughout the region.
Prince Cedza Dlamini, grandson of Nelson Mandela, is a humanitarian, youth activist, spokesman for the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, and the founder of the Ubuntu Institute for Young Social Entrepreneurs. His vision is to create a unified global order by establishing global networks of young leaders who can work collectively to address current world problems.	Linda Dunkel is president and CEO of Interaction Associates, Inc. She brings 25 years experience designing and developing change and learning strategies for organizations and improving the effectiveness of the human assets of corporations. She has served in senior level positions in two start-up companies and was vice president of a Fortune 100 company. She was recently named chairman of the Betty Williams Foundation.
Ryan Feinstein is the Bali Institute Global Projects Director and the founder/director of the Global Youth in Action programs. He has facilitated intergenerational workshops on the empowerment of youth at numerous international conferences, and created/facilitated the first Global Youth in Action Program at the QGHII in 2006. Ryan is currently finishing his degree in International Studies at University of California, San Diego.	Fatima Gailani of Afghanistan is head of the Red Crescent Society. She is a Sunni Sufi Muslim, spokesperson for the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, and one of three women advisors in developing Afghanistan’s interim government.
Ricardo Correa Robledo is an advisor in conflict resolution and peace process in Bogota City, Colombia. He has also been an advisor to the Institute for Peace and Development-INDEPAZ, a member of the Colombian Government Negotiation Team and Thematic Committee in the Peace Process with FARC in 2001-02, a board member of the National Institute of Family Welfare, professor of Constitutional Law at Caldas University, and several other major positions in local and regional training institutes.	Lyla Johnston is a Dineh poet who comes from the soul of the Southwest of America -- Taos, New Mexico. Her poetry sends out a positive message and has inspired many audiences to join a more conscious humanity. She plans to study environmental sciences and solutions. Lyla has also won numerous awards at US regional and national poetry slams.
Patricia McCabe is a Dineh writer, painter, mother and activist whose poetry and short fiction are currently melding with paintings of inner workings. It is never certain which [media] will rise to be heard, to tell the story. She hopes for Peace and Safety, Joy and Light for her children, the elders and for All My Relations. She is the proud mother of Lyla Johnston.	Dumisani Nyoni is a social entrepreneur and activist in Zimbabwe, mobilizing youth into action through global projects rooted in local initiatives. He has helped mobilize young artists and activists from around the world to use arts and new media as a tool for social transformation. He heads Zimele Institute which focuses on innovative transformation in rural education.
Aftab Omer is the president/founder of the Institute of Imaginal Studies, a graduate school and research center located in the San Francisco Bay Area. His work focuses on assisting organizations and learning communities in tapping the creative potentials of diversity, conflict, and complexity.	Therese Poulsen is the founder and director of Breath of Hope Foundation, an organization she started in order to bring her yoga and holistic healing training to the devastated families and children of the 2004 tsunami. She has more than 20 years in teaching, counseling and yoga, is a lay scholar in Sanskrit, has led international yoga workshops and retreats, and has numerous other certifications and interests in the healing arts.
Agung Rai is the founder, visionary and owner of the ARMA Museum and Resort. ARMA (Agung Rai Museum of Art) serves as a living cultural art museum that showcases historical and contemporary artists from Bali, Indonesia and other countries, as well as cultural arts including Balinese dance, music, painting, sculpture and more.	Tjokorda Gede Rai, age 77, is the grandson of the last King of Ubud and is considered one of the most important healers in Bali. He has been written about in medical journals and books, and his "clients" include well-known celebrities and medical experts, to local Balinese and Indonesians. He has trained hundreds of healers worldwide. His teaching comes from traditional Balinese lontars (sacred texts) passed down from generation to generation.
Tjokorda Gde Putra Sukawati is the eldest of the three Princes of the Ubud Palace family. He is active in preserving Balinese art and is the chairman of Museum Puri Lukisa, chairman of the Advisor of Bali Tourism Board, chairman of Ubud Community Board and president director of Pita Maha Institution.	Tjokorda Gde Oka Sukawati is the second of the three Princes of the Ubud Palace family. He is involved in many activities focused on preserving Balinese culture, and is also a lecturer in architecture at Udayana University. He is vice president of Pita Maha Institution.
Tjorkorda Gde Raka Sukawati, the youngest Prince of the Ubud Palace family, is directly involved with many community activities in Ubud and is concerned about preserving Balinese culture. Very talented in traditional Balinese architecture and community leadership, he is a lecturer in marketing at Udayana University and is Managing Director of Pita Maha Institution.	Dr. Ketut Suryani M.D., Ph.D., is a renowned Balinese healer and a leader in bridging indigenous Balinese knowledge and values with the western world. An expert on Balinese culture and spiritual practices, and author of The Balinese People and Living in the Spirit, she also has her own weekly TV show on women's issue, offers weekly meditation and speaks about cultural issues impacting her beloved Bali.
Kate Sweetman is a former editor at Harvard Business Review where she acquired and edited articles by top business executives, academics, and consultants in the U.S. and abroad. She currently works in leadership development for a variety of clients, often crafting customized cases. Kate has a BA in English from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.	Luisah Teish is an initiated elder of West African Diaspora, and holds numerous degrees and certifications including a Ph.D. in Spiritual Therapeutics from Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is a master storyteller, performing and teaching at gatherings and conferences around the world. She has written several books, contributed to 13 anthologies, and has published articles in such magazines as Essence, Ms., Shaman’s Drum and the Yoga Journal.
Carla Woody is the founder of Kenosis, providing transformational programs and spiritual travel journeys primarily in Peru and Mexico. She is the author of several books and recordings, and is currently working on a shamanic adventure novel.	Peter Wrycza, PhD., brings 35 years experience working internationally, facilitating deep transformation and the practical unfolding of human consciousness. He has co-authored a number of books, including When Performance Meets Alignment. Originally from England, he founded the Nirarta Centre for Living Awareness in Bali, and offers a post-conference retreat there.