Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Podcast

In a powerful conversation from the 2025 Festival, Indonesian journalist and Editor-in-Chief of IDN Times Uni Lubis and Indonesian historian and Founder of Historia.id Bonnie Triyana speak with host and American Professor of Journalism Janet Steele about the controversy over the government’s plan to amend history books. They offer a brave, nuanced and ultimately important analysis of another flashpoint in the world’s third-largest democracy and the fear of historical amnesia. Watch and listen to this lively panel now at ubudwritersfestival.com/media and on podcast platforms such as Spotify and Simplecast.

In this next #UWRF25 highlight conversation, American writer, journalist and private diplomat Michael Vatikiotis invites New York Times Diplomatxic Correspondent Edward Wong and Chinese Senior Fellow Zhou Bo to examine the complexities of China–United States relations and how contemporary politics influence these powers. Listen in as they untangle their geopolitical landscape and the interactions between competing world powers. Listen in this clip as Wong describes Trump’s approach on the world stage as driven more by short-term tactics than by a coherent long-term strategy, with decision-making often shifting from day to day, a dynamic that has played out in the widening US–Israel conflict with Iran, where rapidly shifting goals and mixed messaging have marked America’s involvement in the region. Watch and listen to this lively panel now at ubudwritersfestival.com/media and on podcast platforms such as Spotify and Simplecast.

Hear from an all-star line-up of women at the top of their fields as they explore creativity as a gift passed from mother to daughter—from the creation of life to the creation of art, community, and more.Appearing in one of our live recorded highlight conversations of #UWRF25, Indonesian multidisciplinary artist Agnes Christina, Australian author and producer Courtney Collins, British, Delhi-based artist Olivia Fraser, and Irish Book Award–winning writer Sinéad Gleeson talk with Jenny Valentish about what drives them and how their creativity nurtures each of them in a world where women are often responsible for more roles than they are recognised for.You can enjoy this latest highlight session, recorded live at our 2025 Festival, at ubudwritersfestival.com/media and on podcast platforms including Spotify and Simplecast.

If you are after more conversations from #UWRF25, take this latest highlight session with you on your early commute or as you unwind after a busy day.In this illuminating conversation, Scottish historian and author Sam Dalrymple goes back in time to when, as recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia—India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait—was bound together under the single imperial banner known as the Indian Empire, or simply the Raj. Join host Husnara Khanom as Dalrymple explores five partitions and Asia’s enduring legacy of war, exile, and division.You can enjoy this latest highlight session, recorded live at our 2025 Festival, at ubudwritersfestival.com/media and on podcast platforms including Spotify and Simplecast.

Listen back to highlight events from #UWRF25, with new episodes released every week.In this week’s episode, Australian Rewilding Facilitator and writer Gina Chick, British-born essayist and novelist Pico Iyer, and Indonesian travel writer Agustinus Wibowo join Krishna Sen in an extraordinary conversation on seeking discomfort, showing how embracing fear, trying new things, and taking risks makes discomfort a catalyst for growth rather than an obstacle to development.You can enjoy this latest highlight session, recorded live at our 2025 Festival, at ubudwritersfestival.com/media and on podcast platforms such as Spotify and Simplecast.   

Beginning the year with one of the timeliest panels from our 2025 Festival, we hope you enjoy hearing Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Shiori Itō, and Virginia Haussegger in a provoking panel moderated by Kirsten Han. Hear from these incredible three female firebrands as they discuss writing their stories as women and claiming their place in a man’s world, unapologetically.Watch and listen to this lively women-only panel, recorded live at our 2025 Festival, at ⁠⁠⁠www.ubudwritersfestival.com/media⁠⁠⁠ and on podcast platforms such as Spotify and Simplecast.

Hear from a panel of speakers brought together at #UWRF25 as they explore how, in an increasingly digital world where identity is reduced to labels, titles, and qualifications, we can begin to internalise that identity is greater than what we see on the surface, featuring Australian speechwriter and journalist Brigid Delaney; Turkish writer, activist, and PEN International board member Ege Dündar; transnational novelist and filmmaker Thammika Songkaeo; hosted by Singaporean writer and journalist Kirsten Han.You can enjoy this latest highlight session, recorded live at our 2025 Festival, at ubudwritersfestival.com/media and on podcast platforms such as Spotify and Simplecast.

Hear highlight conversations from #UWRF25 as we release a new episode each week.For our second episode, listen to Australian award-winning author Gail Jones as she discusses her new book The Name of the Sister. In conversation with non-fiction writer Bri Lee, Jones delves into her latest work, following a young woman discovered in the outback with no identity who, unable to speak, sparks a media firestorm. This gripping mystery explores how history is told and identities are formed in the absence of reliable fact.Listen to her lively conversation now at ubudwritersfestival.com/media and on podcast platforms such as Spotify and Simplecast.

We are delighted to announce the release of the first podcast episode from #UWRF25.In our first episode, join moderator Petra Molnar as she talks with brilliant minds Omar El Akkad, Neal Hall and Shiori Itō about how they choose to confront unthinkable atrocity with their pens, the tools that allow them to write in these times of urgent need, and why it is necessary to write on the battleground.Listen to the most urgent conversations from this year’s Festival, available at ⁠https://www.ubudwritersfestival.com/media⁠ and on podcast platforms such as Spotify and Simplecast.

In this week's #UWRF24 highlight conversation, the UK’s largest BookTuber and the Internet's Resident Librarian, Jack Edwards, along with digital creator and blogger Sintia Astarina and Bali-based book cover designer and industry expert Ndari, share their journeys into the world of book blogging, the creative process behind their work, and insights into their experiences in shaping the world of literature in the digital age.This engaging conversation, moderated by Syarafina Vidyadhana, is now available to watch at ubudwritersfestival.com/media. You can also tap the link in our bio to listen to this session on podcast platforms like Spotify and Simplecast.