Randa Abdel-Fattah was born in Australia of Palestinian and Egyptian parents. Randa, a Muslim, attended a Catholic primary school but graduated from an Islamic College.

Her new book Does my head look big in this? is about the life of an Aussie Muslim girl and the cultural ramifications surrounding her decision to wear a hijab. The story is loosely based on Randa's own experiences. She was 13 when she decided to wear the hijab full-time.

Randa is also involved with a number of Palestinian human rights campaigns, the Australian Arabic council and various Australian Muslim women's networks. "I'm still coming to terms with my identity hyphens in the aftermath of September 11 and in the midst of the war on terror. I'm still living as a prefix to terrorism, extremism, radicalism and some days it affects me and other days it doesn't," she says.

Randa is married and works as a lawyer in Sydney. Randa Abdel Fattah is sponsored by The Australian High Commission

Acknowledged for his prose and brilliant use of language, Brian Castro is considered one of Australia's most imaginative writers. His books have won many of the major literary prizes and have been translated into Chinese, French and German. Brian is the author of eight novels including "Shanghai Dancing" (winner of the Victorian Premier's Award for Fiction and the NSW Premier's Book of the Year Award), a vast, allusive work of prose loosely based on his family's life in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau from the 1930s to the 1960s. Brian lives in Melbourne.

Brian Castro is sponsored by the Australian High Commission

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah, is a British Rastafarian writer and dub poet, and is well known in contemporary English literature. (Dub Poetry is a form of performance poetry consisting of spoken word over reggae rhythms, that originated in Jamaica in the 1970s.)

Zephaniah published his first book of poems, Pen Rhythm, in 1980, which was so well received that three editions were published. His album Rasta, which featured The Wailers' first recording since the death of Bob Marley as well as a tribute to Nelson Mandela, gained him international prestige and topped the Yugoslavian pop charts.

A self-described passionate vegan, Zephaniah has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of North London (in 1998), the University of Central England (in 1999), Staffordshire University (in 2002), London South Bank University (in 2003), the University of Exeter and the University of Westminster (in 2006).

Bejamin Zephaniah is sponsored by The British Council

Camilla Gibb was born in London, England, and grew up in Toronto, Canada. She completed her Ph.D. in social anthropology at Oxford University in 1997, and spent two years at the University of Toronto as a post-doctoral research fellow before becoming a full-time writer.

She is the author of three novels, including Mouthing the Words: winner the City of Toronto Book Award in 2000; and Sweetness in the Belly: shortlisted for Canada's most prestigious award, the Giller Prize, winner of the Ontario Trillium Award, and currently longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Her books have been published in 18 countries, and in 2001, she was named by the jury of the prestigious Orange Prize as one of 21 writers to watch in the new century.

Camilla is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Toronto, a regular contributor to Canada's leading national newspaper, The Globe and Mail and serves as Vice President of PEN Canada.

Camilla Gibb is sponsored by the High Commission of Canada.

Eda Kriseova was born in Prague in 1940 in the family of an architect and a sculptress. She studies journalism at Charles University in Prague and after graduation worked as a reporter mainly during the Prague Spring in 1986. She has travelled extensively and worked as a voluntary worker for developing countries. After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia Eda Kriseova's test was banned from newspapers and magazines, in addition she was not allowed to publish her books.

She lost her job and belonged to a Prague group of dissidents, intellectuals and opposition, she participated in different activities such as publishing underground literary revue, Samizdat. During the Velvet Revelution she became a speaker for Vaclav Havel, and after Havel was elected president, she worked as his advisor. Eda Kriseova lives in Prague and works as a freelance writer.

Goenawan Mohamad was born in Batang, Central Java. His early writings include Potret Seorang Penyair Muda Sebagai Si Malin Kundang (1972), (The Portrait of A Young Poet as Malin Kundang) and Seks, Sastra, Kita (1980) (Sex, Literature, Us). His more recent writings include Pariksit dan Interlude (2001), Setelah Revolusi Tak Ada Lagi (2001) (Once the Revolution No Longer Exists), and Kata, Waktu (2001) (Word, Time).

He is perhaps most famous as the leader of Tempo (Time) magazine in Indonesia. The magazine was twice forcibly closed by the Suharto's New Order administration because of its vocal criticism of the authoritarian regime. In 1999, Mohamad was named International Editor of the Year by the World Press Review.

As a writer, Goenawan Mohamad earned renowned for his weekly articles at Tempo, Catatan Pinggir (translated and published in English as Sidelines). The concept of 'sidelines' is just like comments or critique of the 'headlines'. Sidelines expressed criticism of one-dimensional, narrow-minded viewpoints and thoughts. Sidelines never ended with a final definitive conclusion, but always with either questions or open-ended comments intended to encourage readers to continute thinking. Sidelines has so far been compiled into 5 books.

Mohamad was one of the founders of the Lontar Foundation and is on the international advisory board of the human rights group ARTICLE 19. (From Wikipedai).

Laksmi Pamuntjak - Indonesia

Laksmi PAMUNTJAK has since 1994 written columns and articles on politics, film, food, classical music and literature for Tempo Magazine and elsewhere. She translated and edited Goenawan Mohamad: Selected Poems, published Jakarta Good Food Guide, and co-founded Aksara, a bilingual bookstore in Jakarta.

Her first collection of poetry, Ellipsis, appeared on The Herald UK 2005 Books of the Year list. A treatise on violence and the Iliad entitled War, Heaven, and Two Women came out in 2006, along with her first collection of short stories, The Diary of R.S.: Musings on Art. The Anagram, her second poetry collection, will be out in March 2007.

Laksmi is also an accomplished classical pianist.

Conor O'Clery

Conor O'Clery was born in Belfast and educated at Queen's University, Belfast, Conor O'Clery worked for the Irish Times, Ireland's leading national newspaper, for over 30 years in various positions, including news editor, and foreign correspondent based in London, Moscow, Washington, Beijing and New York. He wrote for the New Republic from Moscow, contributed regular columns to Newsweek International, and has been a frequent commentator on BBC, NPR and CNN. He was twice Journalist of the Year in Ireland, in 1987 for his reporting of the Soviet Union, and in 2002 for his reporting of the 9/11attack on the world Trade Centre - which he witnessed from his office three blocks away. He is the author of several books, on Russia, Ireland and the United States, including 'The Greening of the White House', an insider account of President Bill Clinton's involvement in the Irish Peace Process, which President Clinton praised for its accuracy and which was published in the United States as 'Daring Diplomacy'. He co-authored 'Panic at the Bank' an account of the rogue trader scandal at Allfirst Bank in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2003, and has just co0mpleted a biography of the secret American philanthropist, Chuck Feeney.

Conor O'Clery lives in Dublin, Ireland, with his wife Zhanna and is currently working on a book about the hidden history of Ireland.

Antares - Malaysia

Antares is a writer and musician, who moved out of the city in 1992 and found himself living amongst the Temuan (second largest of the indegenous tribes in Peninsula Malaysia) in the Malaysian rainforest, a few miles from Gunaong Raya a mysterious, mist-shrouded mountain revered as the birthplace of postdiluvian humanity. Tanah Tujuh - close encounters with the Temuan mythos is his latest book.

Tash Aw - Malaysia

Tash Aw was born in Taipei, Taiwan to Malaysian parents, he grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before moving to England in his teens. He studied law at Cambridge and Warwick and then moved to London to write. After graduating he worked at a number of jobs, including as a lawyer for four years whilst writing his debut novel, which he completed during the creative writing course at the University of East Anglia.

His first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, was published in 2005 to rave reviews, and was reportedly sold to the publishers for over £500,000. It was longlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and won the 2005 Whitbread Book Awards First Novel Award as well as the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel (Asia Pacific region). It has thus far been translated into seventeen languages.

He is currently working on his second novel, set in 1960s Malaysia.


Salleh ben Joned - Malaysia

Salleh ben Joned was born in Malacca in 1941, Salleh spent several years Downunder as one of the last Colombo Plan Scholars. He got an Australian fellow student pregnant in his first year and married her. Due to her family's disapproval of the marriage, the couple moved from the University of Adelaide to the University of Tasmania, where he became a student of major poet, James McAuley. He returned to Malaysia in 1973, lectured in English Literature at Universiti Malaya until 1983, and quit to become a freelance scribbler. His first book was the bilingual poetry collection, "Sajak-Sajak Saleh" (Teks, 1987). His publisher later committed suicide. It was followed by "As I Please" (Skoob, 1994), which compiled his popular New Straits Times column in Malaysia. He has also made a few film appearances.

His latest book of poetry, Adam's Dream will be released during the 2007 KL Lit Fest.

Cecil Rajendra - Malaysia

For Cecil Rajendra his poetry is his total commitment. He is a lawyer by profession … he handles mainly pro bono cases where a principle of justice is involved, defending factory workers who find themselves on the wrong side of the country's highly oppressive labour laws, taking drugs cases involving youths from fishing villages shattered by ill-considered tourism projects, representing peasants denied justice because once in the witness box or dock they are struck dumb by the augustness of the proceedings, the belittling effect of the legal stage props, the theatrical pomposity of the official fancy dress …(Extract from an article by Keith from the South China Morning Post and The Bangkok Post).

His poems have been published and used by the WWF, UNESCO, OXFAM, UNICEF, WCC, BBC, UNDP, the National Geographic and Amnesty International. His poems have been broadcasted in German, Japanese, Chinese, Bengali, French, Malay, Tamil, Urdu, Danish and Tagalog.

His published volumes include Tankas for a Tsunami (2006), Rags a& Ragas (2000), Shrapnel, Silence & Sand (1999), Broken Buds (1994), Papa Moose's Nursery Rhymes (1991), Love Lunatics and Lalang (1989), Dove on Fire (1987) and Hour of Assasins (1983


Dina Zaman - Malaysia

Dina Zaman's articles about being a Muslim in Malaysia in Malaysiakini.com spoke for and captured the imagination of many who, though had similar views were, for various reasons, not able to articulate them.

Dina Zaman is an editor and writer. She has written extensively for the New Straits Time, in a column titled ‘Dina’s Dalca’ and of course, the weekly column titled, ‘I am Muslim’ for www.malaysiakini.com, which is about Muslim life in Malaysia. Dina’s fiction has been published locally and abroad and one of her short stories was translated into Bahasa Indonesia. She is currently working on a compilation of short stories.

I am Muslim will be launched during the Lit Fest.


Wong Phui Nam - Malaysia

WONG PHUI NAM was born in 1935 in Kuala Lumpur and received his early education at the Batu Road School and later at the Victoria Institution. He graduated form the University of Malaya (then in Singapore) in Economics and has since worked mainly in development finance and merchant banking.

While at the university he was actively involved in The New Cauldron, a magazine founded by students of Raffles College which later became the University of Malaya. He was joint editor of Litmus One, an anthology of university verse.

Most of the poems he wrote during the sixties first appeared in Bunga Emas, an anthology of Malaysian writing published in the United Kingdom in 1963. They were subsequently collected in book form and published as How the Hills are Distant in 1968 (Tenggara Supplement) by the department of English, University of Malaya. He remained silent throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s. In 1989 his second volume Remembering Grandma and Other Rumours was published by the English Department, National University of Singapore.

Wong’s poems have also appeared in Seven Poets, The Second Tongue, The Flowering Tree, Young Commonwealth Poets ‘65, Poems from India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaya. He was also published by literary journals like Tengarra, Tumasek, South East Asian Review of English and Westerly and has translated the selected poems of Latiff Mohidin.


Cloudbreak - Malaysia

Cloudbreak works with young people offering them a diverse range of stimulating activities to develop vital life skills. Our innovative 'on your feet' training workshops are a powerful and effective method for helping young people grow in confidence, develop their personality and strengthen their character. It equips them with necessary communication skills to excel in every aspect of their life.

The workshop will be led by Brian Jones. A professional theatre director from UK. Brian has worked as both director and performer with some of the UK's leading Theatre in Education companies including Crucible TIE, MYPT, Theatre Powys, Liverpool Everyman Theatre and Hull Truck. His directing work for Sheffield Theatres Education Company won both national and international acclaim with awards from The National Theatre and the Japan Foundation.


Word Forward Slam Poets - Singapore

The Word Forward Slam Poets comprise:

Chris Mooney-Singh, founder of Poetry Slam™ in Singapore and Programme Director of Word Forward a lit arts company in Singapore. See www.wordforward.org. Ray McNiece, one of the Original US Poetry Slam™ legends, winner and coach of two US Slam National team finals.

The event will be hosted by Ray and Chris. We will be performing solo work and group items along with hosting a Slam
event with some of our Singapore poets and other Malaysian poets who we are in liaison along with some assistance from the British Council.

Elizabeth Smither - New Zealand

Born 1941. Lives and works in New Plymouth, prolific writer Elizabeth Smither is New Zealand’s Te Mata Poet Laureate. She is also a librarian and a journalist. She has spent much of her life in New Plymouth where she still lives and works. She has two sons and a daughter.

She published her first collection, Here Come the Clouds, when she was in her mid-30s and ‘at once established her distinctive, even idiosyncratic, poetic manner. The short poem, usually but not always unrhymed, witty, stylish and intellectually curious, has remained her forte . . . ’ (Oxford Companion to NZ Literature).

Although best known as a poet, with some 13 collections of poems to her credit, she has also written novels, short stories, children’s books and an autobiography and has edited several books for publication. Her work has also appeared in many periodicals and anthologies. Her Auckland University Press publications include Professor Musgrove’s Canary (poetry; 1986), A Pattern of Marching (poetry; 1989; winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, 1990), Nights at the Embassy (fiction; 1990), The Tudor Style (poetry; 1993), The Journal Box (autobiography; 1996) and The Lark Quartet (poetry; 1999).

Elizabeth Smither is sponsored by the High Commision of New Zealand.



Sumithra Rahubaddhe - Sri Lanka
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Sumithra Rahubaddhe, best known for her works of fiction, is the most acclaimed female writer in Sri Lanka. Sumithra is a fiction writer, children's book writer, short story writer, scriptwriter, translator columnist and also a freelance journalist.

Sumithra's substantial and lasting contribution to Sri Lankan literature for readers spans two decades and continues to be a model for prestigious women writers in Asia today. Over the years, Sri Lankans have read her books and expanded their knowledge of social issues and political events on literature. Sumithra's commitment to Sri Lankan literature, and her respect for her readers empower readers to think creatively and critically and take an active role in a socially challenging world.

Sumithra Rahubadde is sponsored by the Sri Lankan High Commission.

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