Indo Pos (19/06/07): There is an exceptional pleasure in writing. Some people feel comfortable writing their ideas in a diary. Some others would be happy to have their text read by other people. For this purpose, a special skill is needed to allow our writing inspire the readers.

This is what the community of Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is doing. In cooperation with the Sampoerna Foundation Scholars Club (SFSC), they organize a series of training sessions themed ‘Creating Future Writers’ (CFW). Aside of Jakarta, the workshop will be held in five big cities in Indonesia, namely in Surabaya, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Banda Aceh
In Jakarta, the first leg of the program, the workshop was held on June 12-13. Followed by Aceh (June 15-16), Surabaya (June 18-19), Yogyakarta (June 18-19), Bandung (June 21-22) and Semarang (June 25-26).

The workshops, in which some 600 students participate, also involve noted authors such as AS Laksana, Budi Darma, Azhari, Reza Idria, Gunawan Maryanto, Anton Kumia as well as other writers. Agung Sentausa, director of the film “Garasi’ also participates in this workshop.

“It is expected that after this training they will be able to express their thinking in writing so that Indonesian youth from the entire region will be able to develop their creativity,” said Nasir Tamara, the spokesperson for Ubud Writers & Readers Festival.
Separately, Sapto H. Sakti, Director of Communication for Sampoerna Foundation said that many people neglected the important skills of reading and writing because they felt those things did not play a strategic role in improving the quality of formal education.

“Reading and writing are actually the most valuable skill for the future. Through writing, we can express our capacity to think and analyze,” said Sapto. (can)