Burma: writing without fear - Voices - British Council

Lucas Stewart is an English teacher at the British Council Burma. He writes about the British Council?s support of the Irrawaddy Literary Festival, the?first international literary festival in Burma,?and how Burmese writers are embracing freedom of expression.

It was a passing conversation with James Byrne, the young English poet who recently edited the first anthology of Burmese poetry published in the West, which brought last month?s events into full light for me. ?It?s incredible,? he said, staring at a group of poets on the lawn of the Inya Lake Hotel, ?they are all sitting around a table drinking together. That?s never happened before.?

The Irrawaddy Literary Festival, the first English language literary festival in Burma, would have been unimaginable even as little as two years ago when I first arrived here. Yet, recent reforms in the last year have seen this once pariah state slowly peek from behind the bamboo curtain and tentatively step into the international limelight.

The release of political prisoners in January 2012, elections in April which saw Aung San Suu Kyi enter as a member of parliament, and most importantly for the literary community, the abolition of pre-publication censorship last August have surprised many.

For, after decades of repression, the Burmese have found themselves in the extraordinary situation of being able to write without fear of Burma?s Press Scrutiny and Registration Division.

But literature, like almost everything in Burma, is riven by political history. The literary community has literally splintered into groups defined, not by their works, but by the lives they have led and the choices they have made.

Often, the hostility and bitterness between the factions was such that they would refuse to even speak to each other. And yet, there they were, all the poets, together at one table, looking to the future.

With Aung San Suu Kyi as the patron, and with literary luminaries such as Vikram Seth, Jung Chang and William Dalrymple in attendance, the festival was always going to be a success. Yet it was a writing and photojournalism exhibition, sponsored by the British Council Burma, which became one of the best-received sessions of the three days.

The Burmese participants told their stories of Burma through a narrative of photographs and writings, and were present at the exhibition to explain their work to an enthralled and enthusiastic crowd.

Celebrated photographer Nick Danziger and award-winning writer Rory MacLean had provided three weeks? guidance to the group.

Photojournalism exhibition at the Irrawaddy Literary Festival (image courtesy of the author)

We also ensured there was an educational element to the festival with workshops aimed at encouraging parents to assist their children in reading at home. The British Council library provided a fun, interactive children?s corner which entertained more than 300 children with storybooks, drawing activities and prizes to be won. The library also organised more than 100 volunteers for the festival, without which tit would not have run so smoothly.

We now need to ensure the legacy of that weekend continues beyond its closing ceremony.

For there are voices, influential voices, that are pleading caution. Despite the positive media attention and the ?normalisation? of political and economical ties, the tide has not quite turned in Burma; the waves have merely reached closer to the shore.

Political prisoners remain incarcerated, phosphorus has been used against protesters and the 60-year war against the Kachin people in Upper Burma has reached a level of military engagement not seen in over a decade.

People who have lived here long enough say that Burma is a country of ghosts and rumours, and these reforms may simply turn out be just that, an apparition of hope that people question they ever saw.

Yet, if last month?s festival has shown anything, the sharing of stories has been given a new freedom, without fear of consequences.

With this in mind, and continuing a tradition that has been in place since the British Council arrived in Burma in 1947, we are instigating a multiphase literature project called ?Hidden Words, Hidden Worlds? or the H? project for short.

In collaboration with local art networks, the project will see a constructive dialogue exchange between English writers and their Burmese counterparts on the issues of free speech and censorship.

It is vital that we reach communities outside of Rangoon, so we will be supporting Burmese writers to pass on their knowledge through creative-writing workshops throughout the country. Participants will be instructed in techniques to provide a voice to their social and economical frustrations.

But we can?t stop there. Burma has a long and rich literary heritage but few works are translated and so are inaccessible to non-Burmese speakers. We aim to work with translators and publishers so that Burma?s writers may become better known, and that they may participate in literary festivals not just in Burma but around the world.

Lucas can be found writing more about Burmese literature on his blog, sadaik.com.

Read about when our British Council Burma director met Aung San Suu Kyi.

Source: http://blog.britishcouncil.org/2013/03/15/burma-irrawady-literature-festival/

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