The second Irrawaddy Literary Festival is the biggest Burmese literary show of the year -- but not everyone is on board: as Kyaw Phyo Tha reports in The Irrawaddy: Burmese Bards to Boycott Literary Festival, as more than 50 poets plan to follow 30 cartoonists in boycotting the festival:
The planned boycotts appear to be related to a longstanding divide between those in the literary community who have worked with Burma's military dominated governments, and those who have insisted upon independence from the country's rulers.It's too bad they can't get everyone on board -- especially as there are few comparable alternate venues yet. But a few teething problems and a little dissent are probably for the best in what is still a time of transition in the country.