The Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange Program (WrICE), now in its fifth year, will partner with the Jakarta Post Writing Center in 2018. WrICE contributes to an Asia Pacific community of writers in a collaborative way, while the writers centre is attached to The Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s multi-award winning, leading English-language daily newspaper.
In April and May WrICE will bring together 12 writers from throughout the region in Indonesia. The writers—novelists, poets and essayists—will take part in a collaborative residency in Yogyakarta, before appearing at a public festival at the Writers Center in Jakarta, The Writers’ Series.
“We are honored to have the opportunity to work with WrICE this year and to bring the group of writers to our Series,” said Jakarta Post Writing Center Director Maggie Tiojakin, herself a WrICE alumna.
The theme of the Writers’ Series festival on May 4–6, ‘The Story of Us’, highlights the need for new narratives in a world inundated with misinformation and mixed messages. Ms Tiojakin said that the series’ theme calls for writers, educators, and storytellers to come together and craft a new story for each other.
The event, expected to attract close to 1000 participants, is a combination of roundtable discussions, reading performances and presentations.
“The Writers’ Series is well aligned with the WrICE program’s goals, exploring what we can do to change our collective story as global citizens. We’re also keen to share the work and experiences of our wonderful group of Australian and international writers with a new audience,” said WrICE Co-Director David Carlin.
The 2018 WrICE Program will team five exceptional international writers and three outstanding RMIT writing students with internationally renowned Australian Aboriginal writer Ali Cobby Eckermann and one of Australia’s leading young novelists, Rajith Savanadasa.
Ali Cobby Eckermann’s first collection, little bit long time, was written in the desert and launched her literary career in 2009. In 2017 she received a Windham Campbell Award for Poetry from Yale University USA. Rajith Savanadasa, a former RMIT Professional Writing and Editing student, was named Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist in 2017 for his debut novel, Ruins.
After Indonesia, the WrICE writers will reunite in Australia in August and September for the Melbourne Writers Festival. WrICE is overseen by non/fictionLab at RMIT and generously supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.
Participating writers for WrICE 2018 are:
Lavanya Shanbhogue Arvind (India), Andy Butler (Australia), Ali Cobby Eckermann (Australia), Han Yujoo (South Korea), Joshua Ip (Singapore), Fiona Murphy (Australia), Gratiagusti Chananya Rompas (Indonesia), Rajith Savanadasa (Australia), Dicky Senda (Timor), Saaro Umar (Australia).