In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Bora Chung chats with Irma about how she wrote her first short story solely for prize money but it eventually led to a short fiction collection that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, why her publisher thought an approach from Anton Hur to translate her collection into English was a scam, what it was like to be at the Booker Prize ceremony and the strange thing every judge said to her, how the Booker has impacted her career, why she doesn’t translate her own work into English even though she is a translator herself, the future of AI in terms of both writing and translation, why she translates books just for fun without the promise of a publishing contract, and why her Indian publisher recently submitting Your Utopia for a small Indian prize has meant more to her than shortlisting for the Booker.

About Bora

Bora Chung has written four novels and six collections of short stories. In 2022, her collection Cursed Bunny was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2023, it was a finalist in the U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature. She has an MA in Russian and East European studies from Yale University, and a PhD in Slavic literature from Indiana University. She has taught Russian language and literature and science fiction studies at Yonsei University, and translates modern literary works from Russian and Polish into Korean.

In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Laura Jean McKay chats with Irma about the experience of touring her books to the UK, why she threw up in a caravan sink after finishing her novel, how the publishing landscape for short fiction has changed over the last two decades, a disastrous book event that ended up in an Oscar-winning performance, writing about big political themes, the surreal experience of recording her audiobook during the pandemic, why winning prizes can be a lonely experience, the overwhelming and unexpected support of the sci-fi community, how to develop writing muscles, the worst writing advice she received from a very famous author, why a serious illness altered the development of her novel, and the practical methods that she used to climb out of an intense period of writer’s block.

About Laura Jean Mackay

Laura Jean McKay is the author of The Animals in That Country - winner of the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award, The Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021. Laura is also the author of Holiday in Cambodia and was Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University. Her latest collection is Gunflower, shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Award and named one of The Guardian’s best books of 2023.

In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Aube Rey Lescure chats with Irma about how she initially followed a friend’s advice not to become a writer but then ditched law to pursue it anyway, how being multilingual impacts the way she writes, why she refused to follow the career trajectory her creative writing course advised, why she got fixated on publishing a book before she was 30 – and then was forced to let go of it, how her mum’s April Fool’s joke led to an important plot line in her debut novel, how she approached writing from different POVs, why she let go of the need for external valuation – and was then shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the pressure of writing the second novel, the impact of her essay on women’s safety, what she learnt from the publication day disappointment of not finding her book in stores, and the phone call that made her squeal on the streets.

ABOUT AUBE REY LESCURE
Aube Rey Lescure is a French-Chinese-American writer. She grew up between Provence, northern China, and Shanghai, and graduated from Yale in 2015. Her debut novel, River East, River West, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024, and her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in Guernica, Best American Essays, The Florida Review online, and more. She has also co-authored and translated two books on Chinese politics and economics, and is the Deputy Editor at literary magazine Off Assignment.