In the lead-up to this year's Festival, Gustra Adnyana, the Head of Indonesian Programming, sat down with us to talk about this year’s Festival theme, his curated sessions, and the events he is most looking forward to at this year's Festival.

What does this year’s Festival theme, Aham Brahmasmi – I am the Universe, mean to you personally as you curated the programme?

I always begin by trying to simplify, to draw closer, and to feel, to ask whether something moves me, whether it stirs my heart. Then I ask myself whether it might also hold meaning for others, beyond my own experience.

For me, Aham Brahmasmi – I am the Universe is an idea that is at once deeply personal and profoundly expansive. It reminds us that every story is a mirror of the universe within us, that every word, memory, and imagination reflects the larger pulse of life around us; that in caring for the heart, we are also caring for the universe.

In curating this year’s programme, I wanted to celebrate that interconnectedness: between the individual and the collective, between local voices and universal truths. Many of our speakers, writers, and artists explore how personal experience, rooted in land, language, and spirituality, can reveal deeper understandings of who we are as human beings. This theme inspired me to bring together storytellers who not only observe the world but also embody it, who remind us that literature is a living conversation between the self and the cosmos, that literature is breath itself.

What can people look forward to at the Festival this year? Are there any exciting highlights?

Every programme is exciting! This year, the Festival presents a rich array of free events, creating more opportunities, especially for young people and Indonesian audiences. A total of 196 speakers from across Indonesia, including Bali, will take the stage at the Festival. Some sessions will serve as special tributes, such as Fajar Merah: Remembering Widji Thukul and 100 Years of Pramoedya. Sessions like Rewriting Indonesian History, Timeless Bali, and Independent Media in Today’s Indonesia are definitely ones to add to your must-see list.

There will be 37 book launches taking place across various venues in Ubud. Imagine the energy of so many new books and emerging writers you can meet in person, all for free. The Festival will also feature a Film Programme and special performances by women artists, Wayang Women, as well as a performance inspired by an ancient manuscript, Aguru Waktra: Reimagining Lontar Budha Kecapi. This year also welcomes Los Buku, showcasing works from Indonesia’s independent publishers in collaboration with Patjarmerah.

Visitors will need to plan their schedules carefully, because missing even one session might mean missing something truly extraordinary.

What would you like attendees to take away from this year’s Festival?

Through the encounters and conversations at the Festival, I hope everyone goes home inspired to keep listening, imagining, and nurturing the universe within themselves. And of course, no one should leave without at least ten signed books from the writers they have met.

Lastly, is there a book you wish you could read again for the first time?

There was one book I finished at dawn, reading its last poem just as the sun was rising. I closed it when the first light touched my face. It felt like such a perfectly poetic moment. The book was My Dream Job by Norman Erikson Pasaribu.