“WE LIVE IN a world of myths and memories, in that grey area where we choose our facts and our fictions to make sense of our lives,” Ooi Kee Beng, the executive direc-tor of Penang Institute, said in his speech for the launch of the George Town Literary Festival (GTLF)."
For the writers gathered in George Town that week, those myths and mem-ories were not distant abstractions. They unfolded in conversations between ses-sions, in meals shared with strangers with common interests and in many people’s first encounters with the city.
One can’t attend everything at such a festival, of course. But one could try. So, as I wandered through the three days of events, I was lucky to be part of some fascinating sessions, and I met a few enchanting writers and speakers.
Among those who had stepped foot in Penang for the first time to attend GTLF was Lize Spit, a prominent Belgian writer. Her debut novel, The Melting, became a bestseller across Europe, known for its psychological sharpness and emotional weight.
