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- The Irrawaddy Literary Festival is a not-for-profit event run entirely by volunteers which celebrates Myanmar and international writers. It is planned to take place regularly every one or two years in Myanmar. The inaugural Festival was described by the (then) British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, as having “achieved more for freedom of speech in one afternoon than most of us manage in a lifetime.” The inaugural Festival was held at the Inya Lake Hotel in Yangon, subsequent Festivals have been held at the Mandalay Hills Resort Hotel in Mandalay. The Festival was founded by Jane Heyn, wife of the former British Ambassador to Myanmar, in 2013, and is supported by Festival patron and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. The fifth Irrawaddy Literary Festival took place 9–11 November 2019. This Festival marked the transition of the Festival from the international board of trustees (of the Irrawaddy Literary Festival Chartable Trust) to local Myanmar organisers, led by Sayar U Nay Oke This fifth and final Festival under the auspices of the international board of trustees was described by participant and Asia editor at The Times, Richard Lloyd-Parry, as "uniquely charming" All sponsorship funding is used to produce the Festival; no salaries or fees are paid to anyone involved and attendance at all events is totally free. In 2016 the Festival became a UK registered charity as the Irrawaddy Literary Festival Charitable Trust (registered charity number 1168517). On 2 May 2018 at a press conference held in Yangon, the trustees of the Irrawaddy Literary Festival Charitable Trust and the Myanmar organisers announced the establishment of a Myanmar Board which would assume responsibility for the organisation of future Festivals as was planned by the founding director Jane Heyn and the Festival's patron, Aung San Suu Kyi. The Myanmar board is headed by chair, Saya U Nay Oke and vice-chair Dr Aung Myint. The Festival presents three days of discussion panels, workshops and individual talks from the authors, along with a variety of cultural activities: film screenings, photography and art exhibitions and street entertainers. Local businesses join the three-day event by setting up food and handicraft stalls. The participating international authors' books are imported and available at the Festival's abundance of bookstalls alongside the works of hundreds of Burmese writers. The Irrawaddy Literary Festival have been covered by global news organisations such as the BBC, CNN, Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the New York Times, and the New York Review of Books. It has also been rated as one of the world's best Literary Festivals in the Sunday Times, Time Magazine, Time Out, the South China Morning Post, the book lovers website Novelicious, Asia House and the Festival Sherpa website. (en)
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