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:

29 November

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Panel: Poetry, Performance, Resistance

Location

UAB Hall

Spoken word is poetry unbound—a fusion of voice, rhythm, and presence that insists on being heard. This session brings together performance poets who use their craft as both art and activism, challenging silence with lyric fire and embodying stories of struggle, defiance, and survival. Through performance and conversation, they show how the stage becomes a battleground for identity, protest, and solidarity.

Speakers: Bernice Chauly, Shivram Gopinath, paul catafago
Moderator/Host: Dipika Mukherjee