By Muhammad Faiz
GOMBAK, 5 November 2017: With the theme ‘Unity in Diversity’, IIUM Writers and Literary Festival will be held from 6 to 10 November aimed at showing the diversified colours of life from literacy perspectives.
“We would like to show that literature can serve a bigger role in the society and with this year’s theme, we can show that,” the Festival Director of IIUM Writers and Literary Festival, Muhammad Amirullah told IIUMToday.
During the festival, the committee members will organise a handful of activities to occupy the whole week. However, not all activities will be an all-day event.
The all-day events that will be conducted from Monday to Thursday are Book Fair and Exhibition “Hikayat: Folktales of Malaysia”. Both of the events will be held at HS Square and HS Seminar Room respectively.
As for the one-time event, on 6 November there will be an Opening Ceremony, Keynote Speech by Chuah Guat Eng, and the Launching of the 4th Edition of Clairvoyance ELITS Literary Magazine from 11.30 a.m until 12.50 p.m at HS Seminar Room.
During every lunch hour of this week, the event will have an Open Mic Session at HS Square. On the night, a talk on National Identity in 4th Industrial Revolution by Mazlan Yusof will be organised at Mini Auditorium.
Besides that, on 7 November, a talk on “Women Issues” by Dr. Siti Nuraishah and “Women in History” by Dr. Elmira Akhmetova will be organised at Mini Auditorium at 11.30 a.m and 2.00 p.m respectively. And during the night, there will be a talk on Refugees by Dr. Mahmudul Hasan.
On the third day, there will be a Kelas Terjemahan Puisi by Terbitan Langit at 11.30 a.m at Mini Auditorium. One of the most highlighted events of the week is the Night of Poesy at Richiamo Coffee from 8.00 p.m until 10.00 p.m.
Finally, on 9 November, they will organise a Creative Writing Workshop by Chuah Guat Eng at Mini Auditorium in the morning. On that night, they will have ELITS Theatre Night, as they will be showing “I, ME, YOU” in Experimental Hall for two nights in a row including closing ceremony on the next day.
“We hope that this festival becomes the beacon in cultivating the sense of togetherness, inclusivity, love and harmony,” he added.
He even went on to say, “It is our ultimate goal to reach all communities in this campus and the public outside IIUM as well as we open our doors for everyone to engage with and join us in this festival.”
For more information, readers may go to their official website at https://iiumwriterslitfest.weebly.com/***