Irrawaddy Literary Festival Connects International and Local Authors
By Zarni Mann 1 November 2017
MANDALAY — “We Were Kings,” the award-winning film about Myanmar’s lost royal family, will be screened at the fourth Irrawaddy Literary Festival scheduled to be held at the Mandalay Hill Resort from Nov. 3 to 5.
The film, directed by Alex Bescoby, features surviving royal family members of the country’s last monarchy and documents their lives and struggles. It will be shown on Nov. 4.
The Irrawaddy Literary Festival was launched in 2013 under the patronage of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to create a friendly and fruitful literary connection between international and local authors.
Alongside renowned Burmese authors, journalists and writers such as BBC journalist John Simpson, Susan Wyndham, Victor Mallet and Denis Muller will be present at the festival, which will feature discussions regarding press freedom.
The festival will host discussions and presentations with both local and international authors, as well as an interfaith dialogue with leading Buddhist monks from Mandalay including Sayadaw U Naryaka, widely known as Galoneni Sayadaw, on Nov. 3.
This year, the Irrawaddy Literary Festival will hold events with 26 international writers and about 100 local authors will attend the festival.
