Mark your calendar: GTLF 2023 set to explore today's uncharted literary terrain

The George Town Literary Festival in Penang, an international literary event celebrating world literature, translations and literary arts, is set to return on Nov 23-26. Photo: Filepic

The written word has the limitless power to either take us to faraway imaginary lands or to bring us home to familiar stomping grounds.

Back for its 13th edition this Nov 23-26, the George Town Literary Festival (GTLF) is keen to take attendees on a tour of today's literary terrain.

This year, Malaysia’s longest-running literary festival explores the theme "Terra Incognita", asking readers and writers alike to venture further afield than we thought possible and to become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the in-between.

GTLF 2023 has also announced an initial line-up of 35 writers from 13 countries.

British author Dyer, whose books include 'Jeff In Venice, 'Death In Varanasi', and 'Zona: A Book About A Film About A Journey To A Room, is set to appear at this year's George Town Literary Festival. Photo: Geoff Dyer

They include British novelist Geoff Dyer; acclaimed Thai authors and SEA Write Award winners Veeraporn Nitiprapha and Uthis Haemamool; Michelle de Kretser, a two-time winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award; multi-faceted Myanmar artist and poet Maung Day; Tamil writer and poet Yuvan Chandrasekar; multi-disciplinary Taiwanese artist and author Wu Ming-yi; and American Professor of Journalism and International Affairs, Janet Steele.

This edition of the festival, which remains free entry and open for all to attend, will be directed by Pauline Fan and curated by Adriana Nordin Manan, both familiar names in the Malaysian literary community.

Kow, who was on the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist, is part of this year's GTLF line-up. Photo: Handout

The curatorial team (for the Tamil and Chinese panels) also includes M. Navin, a notable Malaysian Tamil writer, and Dr Florence Kuek of Universiti Malaya, who specialises in Chinese literature and literary criticism.

The festival will also host local literary guests, including Professor Lim Swee Tin, who was just awarded the 2023 National Poet Award, writer Saras Manickam (winner of the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Contest – Asia) and Shih-Li Kow, winner of French literary prize Prix du Premier Roman (First Novel Prize) in 2018.

Saras, who released her collection of short stories in her debut book 'My Mother Pattu' this year, is a homegrown highlight at GTLF this November. Photo: Saras Manickam

The festival's main sites, including Loft29 on Gat Lebuh Gereja and Mano Plus on Beach Street, will serve as vibrant hubs for literary enthusiasts, who can expect an array of programmes, such as one-on-one conversations, panel discussions, readings, book launches, exhibitions and screenings.

Fans of Muara, GTLF’s serial anthology that includes winning submissions to its Muara Writing Prize, can look forward to this year’s anthology, which will be edited by Wan Nor Azriq and Deborah Augustin with a new publishing partner, Inisiatif Buku Darul Ehsan (IBDE). The anthology will not only include established and rising writers from Malaysia, but also those from South-East Asia and around the world.