Taking place from 29 October to 2 November 2025, the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) returns with a stellar line up of authors and thinkers for this year’s event, bringing the world’s most pressing dialogue and discussion to Bali’s cultural centre.
• 2025 Line-Up
• 8 Bali-focused Events
Guiding this year’s event is the festival’s central theme, Aham Brahmasmi, a Sanskrit concept that has been translated as ‘I am the Universe,’ facilitating conversations that explore the relationship between the individual and the cosmos. The concept also recognises the universe’s creative potential is also embodied in the individual.
Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Line-Up
This year’s roster includes the winners of the 2025 International Booker Prize, Indian author and women’s rights activist Banu Mushtaq, author of Heart Lamp, translated by co-winner Deepa Bhasthi; German author Jenny Erpenbeck, who won the 2024 International Booker Prize for her novel Kairos. Respected non-fiction writers include British-born essayist and novelist, Pico Iyer; award-winning American novelist Omar El Akkad, known for the haunting dystopia American War; and Belgian writer David Van Reybrouck, author of Revolusi, which unravels Indonesia’s fight for freedom after three centuries of Dutch colonial rule.
Returning to Ubud are several frontrunners from Indonesia’s contemporary fiction scene, including playwright and poet from Eastern Indonesia Shinta Febriany; author and winner of the 2024 Chommanard Women’s Literary Award Ratih Kumala, who will dive into her latest work Koloni; and Balinese writer Ni Made Purnamasari. They will be joined by prolific Indonesian travel writer Agustinus Wibowo, who explores identity through journeys to remote borders, and beloved Balinese writer Ni Nyoman Ayu Suciartini, whose works have repeatedly won national literary competitions; as well as former UWRF Emerging Writer and now prolific novelist Juli Sastrawan.
8 Bali-focused Events You’ll Love
Whilst international and Indonesian writers and authors will descend upon Ubud and share their insights on global or national topics, UWRF is also a great opportunity to get-to-know Bali better. This year’s programme features panels, book talks, cultural workshops and tours that invite festival-goers to discover Bali and Ubud deeper than before.
Remembering Cok Sawitri
30 October 2025 | Festival Club at Rumah Kayu
Cokorda Sawitri, affectionately known as Cok Sawitri, was a Balinese artist who channelled her activism through both writing and performance. This session celebrates her life and legacy, as friends, colleagues, relatives, and loved ones honour her memory while keeping alive her voice, works, and spirit of activism. The programme begins with a short film about Cok Sawitri, followed by readings of her works and the launch of a collective book.
Featuring: Cokorda Ngurah Rupini, Ita Siregar, Kadek Sonia Piscayanti, Ni Wayan Jero Jemiwi, Olin Monteiro
Included in Festival Pass | Details Here
Bali 1952: Through the Lens of Liu Kang
31 October 2025 | Book Launch at Ibah
Singapore-based writer Gretchen Liu tells the story of four China-born artists who made their home in Singapore and, in 1953, held an exhibition titled Bali. With over 250 black-and-white images, along with Liu Kang’s private diary, letters to his wife, and other archival sources, this book brings to life an inspiring journey that left a lasting legacy on Singapore’s art history. With an artist’s eye, Liu Kang captured landscapes, architecture, daily life, and the dignity of individuals in portraits, creating a vivid time capsule of Indonesian history.
Featuring: Gretchen Lui, Moderated by Rio Helmi
Free: Register Attendance Here
Culinary Jalan-Jalan Tour
30 & 31 October 2025 | Cultural Workshops
30 October 2025: Discover the flavours of Ubud in the early morning through a walking tour that takes you behind the scenes of legendary eateries, from Ibu Oka’s Babi Guling, Pak Rimpin’s Bebek Betutu and Pak Sanur’s Betutu Ayam, finishing off at Casa Luna.
31 October 2025: Discover the heart of Bali through Sukawati, a village where food is woven into daily life rather than performance. Watch the makers of Bali’s staple dishes, from tofu-making to preparing lawar, and meet a warung legend.
30 Oct – Book Here | 31 Oct – Book Here
Bahasa Bali Breakfast
1 November 2025 | Cultural Workshop
Want to brush up on your Balinese? Then kick of your festival day with a tasty Breakfast & Learn session led by Cinta Bahasa, where your morning meal is paired with an insightful lesson on essential Balinese phrases alongside cultural insights.
TIMELESS Bali
2 November 2025 | Main Programme at Indus Restaurant
Bali is not just a destination; it is a living memory, constantly shifting with time. Through cameras, videos, and archives, visual capturers attempt to hold onto fleeting moments, shaping stories that may one day be remembered as legends. This program invites us to explore how they see Bali today, what they wish to preserve, how they choose to retell its landscapes, faces, and traditions, and what hopes they carry for Bali’s future, whether as visitors or as Balinese themselves.
Featuring: Edward Speirs, Marlowe Bandem, Rio Helmi; moderated by Gatari Surya Kusuma
Included in Festival Pass | Details Here
Reclaiming Architecture as Sacred Code
2 November 2025 | Climate Day Program at Bumi Kinar
In places such as Bali, where ancient codes often clash with technology, sacred land knowledge is frequently diluted in modern projects. Modern architects are encouraged to reconnect with cosmological codes such as Mandala, Tri Hita Karana, Nawa Sanga, and Asta Kosala Kosali, and to challenge how these principles could evolve without being commodified.
Featuring: Gede Maha Putra, Gacanti Swastika, Budiman Ong, and Conchita Blanco, moderated by Kadek Krishna Adidharma
Free: Register Attendance Here
The Grammar of Bali’s 1930s Movements
2 November 2025 | Festival Club at Rumah Kayu
Menoedjoe Masjarakat Baroe, translated as In the Making of a New Society, was published in Djatajoe in July 1939, a community journal by Bali Dharma Laksana –– part of the rise of Bali’s intelligentsia. Written during a moment of political uncertainty, it framed Bali as a crossroads between colonial legacies, adat (customary law and tradition), and emerging ideas of nationhood. This session reflects on how vocabularies of renewal, solidarity, and awareness in 1939 continue to resonate with Bali’s social and political tensions today.
Featuring: Bandem Kamandalu, Juli Sastrawan, Putu Sridiniari, Si Luh Ayu Pawitri; Moderated by Oktaria Asmarani
Included in Festival Pass | Details Here
Roots – One Hundred Years of Walter Spies
2 November 2025 | Film Program at Paradiso Ubud
Ninety-eight years after the free-spirited, highly talented painter and musician Walter Spies first visited Bali, his spirit returns to the island. But with Spies came tourism and modernity. Michael Schindhelm’s poetic docu-fiction tells a cinematically undiscovered story of Bali, its rise as the Eldorado of global tourism, and its people’s desperate efforts to preserve their cultural identity amid globalisation.
Featuring: Gus Dark, Made Bayak and Michael Shindhelm
Included in Festival Pass | Details Here
The full lineup and rundown of events is available on the festival’s website. Festival-goers can choose between our 4-Day Festival Passes and 1-Day Festival Passes, with Special Events and Masterclasses also available for purchase. Discounts are available for students, KITAS / KITAP holders and ASEAN country citizens.
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