The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2025 runs October 29 through November 2 in Bali, Indonesia. This 22nd edition of the festival features a pair of Booker Prize winners, chroniclers of Indonesia’s past and dozens of writers, artists, thinkers and performers from the archipelago’s present amid their counterparts from six continents.

The 2025 and 2024 International Booker Prize winners Banu Mushtaq from Indian and Jenny Erpenbeck from Germany will appear together to discuss their works and their triumphs. A lawyer and women’s rights activist, Mushtaq was awarded her 2025 Booker for short story collection Heart Lamp. She writes in Kannada, the official language of Karnataka in southwest India, and will appear with the book’s translator Deepa Bhasthi. Erpenbeck’s winning novel Kairos is a romance set amid the collapse of the East German state.

Keynote speaker David Van Reybrouck wrote Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World, a history of Indonesia’s emergence as a nation in this 80th anniversary year of its declaration of independence. Award winning historian William Dalrymple chronicles Britain’s colonial East India Company in The Anarchy and highlights connections between Indonesia and the subcontinent, where he makes his home.

Novelist and essayist Pico Iyer returns to Bali for the first time since 2007. Author most recently of Aflame: Learning from Silence, Iyer welcomes the festival as an opportunity to “gather to forge a fresh set of possibility. At a time when our world seems more divided than ever, nothing could be more urgent or uplifting.”

“From humble beginnings, the festival has grown into Southeast Asiaʼs most meaningful literary event, bringing people together from near and far,” festival founder and director Janet DeNeefe says. “So, if you wish to meet fellow literary-minded folk, love a good story or performance, or are simply eager to learn more about Indonesia, then come to Ubud to experience the magic for which we are famous.

“For me, our festival has been life-changing, and it can be for you.”

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for Clarion Media, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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Amid chaotic, unmistakably hostile US-China relations, American investments in multibillion dollar casino resorts in Macau look like sitting ducks. But those properties are also irreplaceable cash cows for their owners, and that’s quite a dilemma.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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In an interview with iGaming Business, Hann Philippines chairman Dae Sik Han showcases his efforts to transform the former US air base at Clark, 100 kilometers north of Metro Manila, into a world class leisure and gaming destination featuring mountain air, open spaces, farm fresh food and an international airport. Introducing five-star properties Hann Resorts and forthcoming Hann Reserve has forced Clark rivals to raise their games in response.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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Thailand’s headlong, haphazard effort to legalize casino resorts is off again. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s government postponed submission of the so-called Entertainment Complex legislation on April 9, a day before lawmakers were due to begin debating the bill. No clarity yet on when the government will submit the bill.

The government says it withdrew the legislation due to uncertainty amid US induced global economic chaos, days after an official suggested entertainment complexes could offset the impact of US higher tariffs.

There’s speculation that public opposition to expanding gambling or political infighting was behind the withdrawal. Sources tell me that government officials realize Thailand must improve its regulatory framework to get leading casino companies to participate.

“I think they have listened to the pros and experts and are making sure the Is are getting dotted and the Ts are getting crossed,” Bangkok based David Leppo of playexpat.com and CheckMate Mitigation says. “They have one shot at getting it right so the major players can actually open up and operate here in Thailand without risking any gaming licenses they currently have in other jurisdictions.”

Leading gaming industry figures and many of Thailand’s top business groups are enthusiastic about creating integrated resorts in the kingdom. But throughout the casino legalization process, it’s been clear Thailand’s government has not done its homework to create a legal structure to support billions in integrated resort investment.

This pause gives Thailand a chance fully realize its potential to create IRs to boost tourism and tax revenue. Thailand’s experience with cannabis legalization remains a sobering precedent.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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Macau’s gross gaming revenue reached US$28.3 billion last year, 77.5% of the 2019 total. For China-facing casino operators, pivoting from a VIP junket reliant business model to mass market tourism remains a challenge amid tougher restrictions on money movements and decreased visitation from the PRC. Several leading minds in gaming have helpful suggestions.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, ex-Twitter @MuhammadCohen and now on Blue Sky @MuhammadCohen.bsky.social.

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