Books, Boats and Apologies

The moon that night, as they say in eastern Indonesia for a halo moon, was 'wearing an umbrella', the evening of the opening of the fifth Makassar International Writers Festival. Satuni, 70, was pakkacaping, or chanting, on her kecapi, a resonant stringed bamboo instrument almost as tall as she was.

The heartrending pentatonic notes sung in old Mandar language mesmerized the 1,000 or so crowd, 58 of whom were writers from 14 countries, besides Indonesia. The festival had in fact begun that morning, June 3, at the Fort Rotterdam in Makassar. With a short story and a plot-writing workshop, a panel discussion about pursuing one's passion at the Hasanuddin University campus, a discussion exhorting people to 'Don't Judge the Book by the Movie', a meet-the-publishers event, a book launch by former US diplomat Stanley Harsha, and a tribute to music writer and archivist Denny Sakri, the festival offerings were modest compared to more gargantuan festivals in other countries. But it had caught the attention of the local populationwho, when asked, freely admitted they were neither writers, nor, for that matter, even readers. They were mostly young, on average under 30 years of age, most of them students, and intrigued by the 'international' part in the festival's name. And enthusiastic they were, especially since all the events were free.