George Town Literary Festival 2025
Venue: UAB Building | Bangunan Wawasan | Hikayat | Cheah Kongsi | China House
Date: 28–30/11/2025
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About
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:
Friday 28 November 2025
| Time | Venue | Title |
| 10:00-11:00 | UAB Hall | GTLF Opening Ceremony |
| 11:30-12:30 | UAB Salon | Penang Monthly Short Story Competition Prize Announcement |
| 11:30-12:15 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Entrepot |
| 14:00-15:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: Living Memories, Silenced Histories |
| 14:00-15:00 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Legacy (Rose Gan), Monsoon |
| 14:00-15:00 | Hikayat | Reading: Poetry by El |
| 14:30-15:30 | Wawasan Hall | Panel: Lost (and Found) in Translation |
| 15:00-15:45 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Island in the World: Singapore's Geopolitical DNA (Simon Tay), World Scientific |
| 15:30-16:30 | Wawasan Reading Room | Reading: Building the Canon: New Voices from the University of Nottingham Malaysia |
| 16:00-17:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: The Literature of Fact – The Art and Power of Creative Non-Fiction |
| 16:00-17:00 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Rehumanising Rabindranath Tagore: A Malaysian Kaleidoscopic View |
| 16:30-17:30 | Wawasan Hall | Conversation: In the Key of Memory — Writing a Musical Legacy |
| 17:00-17:45 | Wawasan Reading Room | Conversation: S. Rajaratnam: A Malayan Voice in the World |
| 18:00-19:00 | UAB Salon | Performance: Ghost Bird |
| 20:00-22:00 | UAB Hall | Film Screening: Poetries from the Bookstores |
Saturday 29 November 2025
| Time | Venue | Title |
| 10:00-11:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: She Who Remembers, She Who Rewrites |
| 10:00-11:00 | Wawasan Hall | Panel: Verses of Our Time: Poetry and Its Crossings |
| 10:00-11:00 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: In The Mirror: New and Selected Works of Wong Phui Nam |
| 10:00-10:30 | UAB Salon | Conversation: Patricia Lim – A Life in Memory and Story |
| 10:30-11:00 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Lim Kee Jin: Doctor and Mentor |
| 11:30-12:30 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Adorable, Malayan Spy, and Vermillion Eye |
| 11:30-12:30 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Pseudo-Immortals and Sunset Chaser |
| 11:30-12:30 | UAB Hall | Panel: Legacies of Belonging |
| 11:30-12:30 | Wawasan Hall | Conversation: How does food shape national identity? A look at the Taiwan railway gourmet tour in Taiwan Travelogue |
| 14:00-15:00 | Wawasan Hall | Panel: Wit, Satire, and the Playful Imagination |
| 14:00-14:45 | UAB Salon | Reading: The Poetic Body – A Reading by Helen Mort |
| 14:00-14:45 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Utama |
| 15:00-16:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: Stories We Inherit – Belonging Through Time |
| 16:30-17:15 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Misgovernance |
| 16:30-17:30 | Wawasan Hall | Panel: Intimacies and Inheritances |
| 16:30-17:30 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Fierceland |
| 16:30-17:30 | Wawasan Workshop Room | Book launch: The Malaysian Squirrel's First Book of Short Stories by August Moon |
| 17:00-18:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: Poetry, Performance, Resistance |
| 19:30-21:00 | The Canteen @ ChinaHouse | Special Event: Mic Mythos |
| 20:00-21:30 | UAB Hall | Film Screening: Terdedah: 7 Artists in Search of a CoverA lo-fi documentary by Amir Muhammad |
Sunday 30 November 2025
| Time | Venue | Title |
| 08:30-10:00 | George Town | Fringe Event: Heritage trail with Penang Heritage Gems |
| 10:00-11:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: Frontlines of Truth |
| 10:00-10:45 | Wawasan Hall | Panel: Laughter in the Dark |
| 10:00-11:00 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Milestones: A Nutmag Anthology |
| 10:00-10:45 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Contours of Him |
| 11:30-12:15 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Hibiscus & Plum Blossoms Contemporary Malaysian and Taiwanese Poems |
| 11:30-12:15 | UAB Hall | Panel: Ideas, Power, and the Nation |
| 11.30-12.30 | Wawasan Hall | Panel: Stage to Page – Writing about Performing Art |
| 11.30-12.30 | UAB Salon | Award Ceremony: 2025 Dutt Award for Literary Excellence |
| 14:00-15:00 | Wawasan Hall | Artist Talk: Hou Chi-jan – Stories Between the Shelves |
| 14:00-16:00 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Kenangan Luka, The Golden Oasis, and Akal Sanggahan Bebal |
| 14:00-14:45 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Passing Glimpses of the Present |
| 15:00-16:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: Echoes of a Homeland |
| 16:00-17:00 | Wawasan Reading Room | Book Launch: Boh Beh Zhao and Elsewhere, the Cosmos Cracks |
| 16:30-17:30 | Wawasan Hall | Panel: Worlds in Motion – Writing as Philosophy |
| 16:30-17:15 | UAB Salon | Book Launch: Dey |
| 17:00-18:00 | UAB Hall | Panel: Borneo, Carried Across Oceans |
| 18:30-19:15 | Cheah Kongsi | Special event: GTLF Closing Performance: CHRISTIAN FALSNAES — FRONT |
| 19:30-20:30 | Cheah Kongsi | Special Event: GTLF Closing Performance: Rhythms of Return |
Fringe Events
| Date | Time | Venue | Title |
| 28 Nov | 19:00-20:30 | COEX | Conversation: Conversation with Christian Falsnaes, Hesselholdt & Meljvang and Vanini Belarmino. Moderated by Gareth Richards |
| 1-31 Dec | ChinaHouse | Exhibition: HESSELHOLDT & MEJLVANG— Be a Beautiful Force Together | |
| 29 Nov | 08:30-10:30 | Meeting Point: Woodville Mansion next to Gurney 8 | Walking trail: PHG x GTLF: Millionaires Row: A Heritage Walk with Eugene Quah |
| 29 Nov | 17:00-17:30 | Hin Bus Depot | Performance: HESSELHOLDT & MEJLVANG— Be a Beautiful Force Together |
| 30 Nov | 11:00 and 14:00 | Hin Bus Depot | Performance: MOLLY HASLUND — Teenagers Eating Ice Cream Cones |
| 30 Nov | 14:00-16:00 | City Rio Cafe, 64, Lebuh Bishop | Special event: Kopitiam Talk: Brewing Stories of Penang’s Coffee Culture |
| 30 Nov-31 Dec | Hin Bus Depot | Exhibition: MOLLY HASLUND — Teenagers Eating Ice Cream Cones | |
| 1-31 Dec | Penang Institute | Exhibition: CHRISTIAN FALSNAES — FRONT |
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