Oleg,

Apologies that it has taken me so long to thank you for the wonderful work you did this year at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, and for the generous way in which you shared your thoughts and opened your heart . I had so much enthusiastic feedback from audience members, who were quick to let me know when they fell in love with writers for the first time, and with whom.

Janet de Neefe expresses her gratitude and thanks to which I join mine. It was an inelegant and graceless lead up to the Festival and the fact that we managed to present an event at all bears testament to the tolerance and flexibility of many of those who participated. Astonishingly, the audience numbers grew by some 33% in 2011 and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is set to march bravely forward into 2012. 

I have just arrived back in Byron Bay and look forward to meeting you once more at a literary event somewhere, soon .

 Warm regards,

JC