The View From Down Here: Wayan Cameng, Artist, Shopkeeper, Philosopher
So what is the view that the “average person” sees in this maelstrom of building and economic boom going on in Bali these days? The …
Posts in category Culture
BALI BEHIND THE SEEN
by Ibu Kat The River People are getting annoyed. Their domain is the deep ravines that slash Bali’s topography from north to south. These …
Coming to UWRF #3: Sofie Laguna (Australia)
By Shelley Kenigsberg Within moments of meeting Sofie Laguna and talking about story, books and writing, I was struck by her deep understanding of and …
Coming to UWRF: The Girl With Seven Names
Her TED talk has been watched by more than a million people, and now her new autobiography, ‘The Girl With Seven Names’, is introducing people …
Interview: Putu Oka Sukanta
Putu Oka Sukanta, an important Indonesia literary figure slated to appear at this year’s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, started his career writing poetry at 16. …
GALUNGAN & KUNINGAN – Cycles within Cycles
Every 210 days the Balinese religious holidays of Galungan and Kuningan recur, pegged to the ‘pawukon’ calendar. There has been a lot of conjecture which …
TO ‘MAGIC’ IS A VERB – book review
Around the time Julia Roberts was in 2nd grade, David Stuart-Fox started a decades-long research project with Balinese healer Mangku Ketut Liyer. Their friendship opened …
Saraswati – in Praise of Learning and Inspiration
Saraswati is essentially an Indian deity, and has for centuries been integrated into the Balinese system of beliefs that has for the last few decades …
Tea & Textile Tales, with Threads of Life
by Catriona Mitchell Many of us, regardless of where we hail from, are admirers of traditional Indonesian textiles. The iconic patterns, natural dyes and artful …
Ubud, the One-Trick Pony
by Ibu Kat When I first came to Ubud in 1969 it wasn’t much geared for tourism. I remember a few home stays and the …