Malaysia’s leading celebration of stories returns for its 15th edition! This year’s George Town Literary Festival explores Urban Myths and Memories through panels, readings, performances, and workshops featuring 37 writers and artists from 13 countries.

George Town Literary Festival 2025 

Malaysia’s leading celebration of stories returns for its 15th edition! This year’s George Town Literary Festival explores Urban Myths and Memories through panels, readings, performances, and workshops featuring 37 writers and artists from 13 countries.

Join us in Penang’s heritage heart for three days of conversation, creativity, and discovery. Admission is free with a Festival Pass, except for workshops and select events.

Explore the full programme breakdown on the official George Town Literary Festival website.

Programme at a glance:

28 November

11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Award ceremony: Penang Monthly Short Story Competition prize announcement

Location

UAB Salon

The inaugural Penang Monthly Short Story Competition Prize celebrates the art of storytelling in all its sharpness, nuance, and wonder. Created to discover voices that linger in the mind, the prize honours stories that are alive to place yet unafraid to traverse wider worlds. Its first winners embody the vitality of new writing—narratives that carry both craft and imagination, intimacy and vision. In recognising them, the prize affirms the power of story to move, question, and endure.

Moderator/Host: Rachel Yeoh