Hamid Ismailov and Norman Erikson Pasaribu will take part in this year’s George Town Literary Festival in Penang, Malaysia. This year’s theme is forewords/afterwords. Sweeping changes in politics around the world and here at home may have brought new hope for many but difficult questions remain: the crisis of democracy and ecology, and the rise of nationalist populism are only a few signs of things to come. Have we been here before and can we learn from the past? forewords/afterwords engages notions of beginnings and transitions, with a strong emphasis on history.

The George Town Literary Festival is an international literary festival celebrating world literature, translations and literary arts. Held annually in the UNESCO World Heritage site of George Town, Penang, the festival was awarded ‘The International Excellence Awards 2018 for Literary Festival’.