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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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 is essentially an Indian deity, and has for centuries been integrated into the Balinese system of beliefs that has for the last few decades …

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 …

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 …

Another opinion piece by grumpy old man Rio Helmi Pengerupukan: pots and pans banging, torch flames flaring in compounds throughout the village, then everyone pouring …