Irrawaddy Literary Festival
“The 2013 Irrawaddy Literary Festival achieved more for freedom of speech in one afternoon than most of us manage in a lifetime.”
William Hague – Then Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, speaking to Ambassadors at the Foreign and Commonwealth Leadership Conference in Summer 2013.
In February 2013, as Burma (Myanmar) began to open up to the outside world after more than 50 years of military rule, the inaugural Irrawaddy Literary Festival was held. It was a groundbreaking event bringing together over 30 renowned international authors with more than 100 Myanmar writers whose writings had, hitherto, been massively censored or banned altogether.
The inaugural Festival attracted over 10,000 visitors and the attention of the world’s media. Initially intended as a one-off event, the success of the first Festival led to four further Festivals being held between 2014-2019. It was based on a unique not-for-profit ethos. All of the authors and all the organisers, in Myanmar and beyond, gave their time and their expertise on a pro-bono basis.
The brutal military coup in 2021 and the subsequent repression of freedom of speech in Myanmar, means that no further festivals are possible. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi remains in prison on trumped up charges brought by the illegitimate military junta. She is one of around 20,000 political prisoners currently being held in Myanmar’s jails. Over 1 million people have been displaced and over 3,000 people killed as a result of the junta’s repression.
Nevertheless, in the spirit of a Festival born out of the triumph of hope and freedom over repression, those who participated in the International and Myanmar organising Boards remain hopeful that when freedom returns to Myanmar the Festival can resume.
