Abroad Writers’ Conference – June 14 – 21, 2027
Berlima Resort
Some places don’t just inspire writing — they insist on it. Ubud is one of them. Here, where terraced rice fields catch the morning light like green water, where temple bells drift through jungle air thick with incense, and rivers carve their slow path beneath ancient stone, the line between the world and the page begins to blur. This is not a place you visit so much as a place that rearranges something in you.
It is here, in this small luminous corner of Bali, that we invite you to gather with us — to write, to dream, and to sit at the feet of some of the most celebrated literary voices working today.
Beyond the workshops and readings, you’ll be immersed in the living art of Bali itself — the hypnotic grace of traditional Balinese dance, the flickering ancient storytelling of shadow puppet theater, and the rich, fragrant flavors of Balinese cuisine. These are not sidebars to the conference; they are part of its lesson. Bali has always understood that story lives in movement, in shadow, in the shared act of a meal — and for one week, so will you.
Yellow flowers honor the Hindu god Mahadeva and pray for prosperity
AUTHORS JOINING US
Robert Olen Butler
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Distinguished Professor at Florida State University, holding the Michael Shaar Chair in Creative Writing
Robert Olen Butler is the author of eighteen novels and six collections of short stories, including A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, which won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A Vietnam War veteran and fluent Vietnamese speaker, he has spent his career writing across cultures, memory, and the quiet aftershocks of history on ordinary lives. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature.
A writer whose work has long explored the hidden chambers of memory, longing, and the human heart across war and peace, distance and return.
~
Julie Kane
Professor Emerita at Northwestern State University.
Julie Kane is a formalist with a deep love of meter, rhyme, and the long tradition of poetic craft, she has also written extensively on women’s poetry and the recovery of overlooked poetic voices. Her own work moves fluidly between strict form and free verse, often returning to themes of memory, womanhood, and her Louisiana roots. As Professor Emerita at Northwestern State University, she spent decades helping younger poets find precision and music in their own lines — and she brings that same generous, exacting ear to every workshop she leads.
Julie Kane is the author of six books of poetry, including Rhythm & Booze (winner of the National Poetry Series), Jazz Funeral (winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize), Mothers of Ireland (winner of the Poetry by the Sea Book Prize), and her newest collection, Naked Ladies: New and Selected Poems (2025). She also co-authored a Vietnam War memoir and has translated poetry from French and Lithuanian. She is a Fulbright Scholar.
She brings the music of decades spent listening closely to language, helping writers cover the poetry that already lives inside them.
~
Josip Novakovich
Croatian author, Finalist for the Man Booker International Prize, Professor at Concordia University, Canada
Born in Croatia and now writing in English, Josip Novakovich has published a dozen books, including the novels April Fool’s Day and Rubble of Rubles, five story collections, and three collections of narrative essays exploring exile, war, and homeland. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages, including Russian, Japanese, Italian, and French.
Josip has built a body of work — novels, story collections, and essays — shaped by displacement, war, and the absurdities of living between two worlds at once. His fiction was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize, recognizing a career that moves between sharp, dark humor and the quiet devastations of exile. Novakovich teaches creative writing at Concordia University in Montreal, where he continues to mentor writers navigating questions of identity, homeland, and the strange freedom of writing in a borrowed tongue.
He carries with him the soul of a wanderer — a writer for whom exile became enchantment, and distance became the very material of story.
For one unforgettable week, leave behind the ordinary. Write by candlelight. Read aloud beneath banyan trees. Let Bali do what it has always done for writers: remind you that the world is larger, stranger, and more beautiful than you remembered — and that your story is worth telling.
Passage into a land lost in time.
The story’s about a fierce King of Lasem, who fall madly in love with Princess Ranjasari. The Princess completely rejects his advances and tries to get away. The King captures her and locks her away in his royal palace.
Daily Schedule
Workshops are scheduled for the afternoons, so sightseeing can happen during the cooler morning hours. We’ll spend the hot afternoons indoors with air conditioning.
| Day | Date | Morning | Afternoon | Evening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrival | Mon, June 14 | Arrive, check in | Berlima Resort Workshop: Josip 3:00–6:00pm | Berlima Resort Welcome party & dinner at Berlima |
| Day 2 | Tue, June 15 | Free / shuttle into Ubud | Berlima Resort Lunch 1:00pm Workshop: 2:00-5:00pm Robert/Julie | Berlima Resort Readings 5:15 pm dinner: Berlima following reading |
| Day 3 | Wed, June 16 | Free / shuttle into Ubud | Rerlima Resort Lunch 1:00pm Workshop: 2:oo – 5:00pm Robert/Julie | Berlima Resort Readings 5:15 pm 6:30 Cantina Rooftop Dinner out in Ubud |
| Day 4 | Thu, June 17 | Free / shuttle into Ubud | Berlima Resort Lunch 1:00pm Workshop: 2:00-5:00pm Josip | 6:00 Readings 7:00 pm Balinese Dance Dinner, Kaukau Restaurant |
| Day 5 | Fri, June 18 | Free / shuttle into Ubud | Berlima Resort Lunch 1:00pm Workshop: 2:00-5:00pm Robert/Julie + Josip | Reading 6pm Berlima Dinner following readings |
| Day 6 | Sat, June 19 | Free / shuttle into Ubud | Berlima Resort Workshop: 9:00-12:00pm Josip Lunch 1:00pm Workshop: 2:00-5:00pm Robert/Julie | Free Night |
| Day 7 | Sun, June 20 | Free / shuttle into Ubud | Berlima Resort Lunch 1:00pm Workshop: 2:00-5:00pm Josip | Reading 5:15 pm Closing dinner at 7:00 pm TanaDewa Resort |
| Departure | Mon, June 21 | Breakfast, checkout | Departures | — |
Berlima Resort
COST
| Tier | Price |
|---|---|
| Single (private room) workshops For two full participants sharing a room. Same access as Single Participant. | $2,500, includes one workshop Additional workshops fee: $500 |
| Shared (2 participants, both in workshops) Travel to Bali with fellow writers — read, talk craft, and explore Ubud together, without the pressure of formal workshops. | $2,000/person, includes one workshop pp Additional workshops fee pp: $500 |
| Plus-One Companion (non-participant) Includes meals and cultural excursions; does not include workshops with authors. | $550 |
| Non-workshop /Literary Vacation | Plus-one for a Single or Shared Room Participant. No literary programming — just along for the trip. Includes meals. | $1,900 |
| Plus-One Companion | Plus-one specifically for a Non-Workshop/Literary participant. No literary programming — just along for the trip. Includes meals. | $550 |
Travel to Bali with fellow writers — read, talk craft, and explore Ubud together, without the pressure of formal workshops.
FLIGHT ALERT: Don’t Pay Full Price for Bali!
How to Book and Save: Book a Multi-City Ticket flying into Jakarta, Java. Stay over-night in Java and then take your flight in the morning to Bali. Airline with good prices is Eva Air–important not to book to Bali, book ticket to Jakarta, Java. Get ticket from Jakarta to Bali.
Subject: Bali Flights (June 9–21, 2027) Are Currently 50%+ Off — Might Not Last
Quick heads up for our Bali trip (June 9–21, 2027) — I just checked flights, and EVA Air fares are currently running less than half of what other airlines are charging for the same route.
Current economy round-trip pricing:
– JFK to Denpasar: $863.20
– LAX to Denpasar: $843.20
– Chicago to Denpasar: $918.20
I don’t mean to rush you, but airfare doesn’t wait for group deadlines — these prices can shift at any time, and there’s no guarantee they’ll still be this low in a few weeks. If you’re interested in joining us, this is your opportunity to get a discounted flight to the event.
Bali Arts Festival Procession
Add-on: The Beginning of a Beautiful Trip
Your flight lands in Denpasar. Why not stay for an extra three days by the sea before going straight to Ubud?
Ease into Bali, instead of rushing into it. Stay three nights in Sanur, right on the water, and join the opening procession of the Bali Arts Festival — dancers in gilded headdresses, gamelan orchestras, floats depicting Balinese myth — before making your way to Ubud.
This isn’t just a beautiful detour. It’s how you arrive ready, not recovering.
By the time your first workshop begins, you won’t be jet-lagged. You’ll be acclimated, rested, and ready — having already spent your first days in Bali by the sea.
What’s Included — $495 per person
- 3 nights at Prime Plaza Hotel, Sanur — right on the water, breakfast included daily
- Private one-way airport pickup upon arrival in Denpasar
- Round-trip transport to the Bali Arts Festival’s opening procession
- Transfer to Ubud on Monday, arriving in time for the start of the main conference
Not Included:
- Lunch and dinner during these three days
- Return airport transport at the end of the full conference (since travel plans vary, this stays flexible and is arranged individually)
Image from the Sepilok Rehabilitation Center — where we’ll be staying for three nights.
Add-on: Extend Your Bali Journey to Borneo
From the rice fields of Ubud to the rainforests of Borneo — continue the adventure and encounter wild orangutans in their natural habitat.
June 21 – July 2, 2027
10 night trip for $1,995
Includes: hotels, breakfast, in Kinabaatangan River–all meals
Airfare not included
4 nights in Kuching
3 nights in Sepilok near the Orangutan Rehab Center
3 nights in Kinabatangan River at a River Game Lodge
Writing Workshop— Author, Josip Novakovich
Information to follow soon.
For more information and to receive an application, contact Nancy Gerbault at nancy@abroadwritersconference.com
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