| Danial Norjidi |
THE 1st Writers Conference was launched yesterday by the Cottage and Youth Initiative Programme (CYiP).
The two-day conference features an exhibition, coffee chats, workshops and pop-up booths at the Knowledge Hub (KHub) Lobby in Anggerek Desa.
CYiP Principal Mentor Captain (Rtd) Zailan bin Pehin Dato Mohd Don delivered welcoming remarks during the launch at the Design and Technology Building.
Meanwhile, in her speech Norhayati binti Haji Abu Bakar, Senior Mentor of Social Economy at CYiP, shared that CYiP – established in November 2016 – aims to create market access for quality Brunei products to penetrate the global market, with the objective of producing successful business leaders by creating a business environment and influencing the export products for other people to participate, to create high quality products by promoting sales brands and facilitate supply chains for sustainable production.
It was also explained that the 1st Writers Conference was held to promote socioeconomic development through writing and media.
This was followed by a speech from Major (Rtd) Hajah Sopiah binti Haji Husaini, Cluster Leader of Writers and Media, CYiP who said, “Among us in the audience are established writers, budding writers, unknown writers and those who are still searching themselves whether or not they should become writers.
“Today, we create a platform which we call the Writers and Media Cluster,” she said, before adding, “It is high time that we opened up a writing industry, where writers expand on their talent and their career until they become very successful in their life.”
Attending as the guest of honour to launch the 1st Writers Conference was Haji Mohd Rozan bin Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yunos, a local writer and adjunct professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
In a keynote speech, he said, “I understand that this event will be a sharing session so as to allow writers to move forward towards writing and publishing a book as well as sharing among writers, tips and challenges of being a local writer.
“All this will no doubt help contribute towards Brunei’s efforts in our Vision 2035, but also importantly it will help writers become more independent and maybe able to earn a living from it, thus helping towards the nation’s efforts in diversifying the economy.”
Adding on, he said, “I am really hopeful that this gathering and future gatherings will encourage more writers to come forward and create a positive climate where writings can be conducive. I am sure your writings will definitely enrich our cultural heritage.”
After launching the conference, the guest of honour toured the gallery exhibition.
The conference continued in the afternoon with a session entitled ‘UF Akademi – Responsibility as a writer’, before continuing with a talk on ‘Reaching Out to the World (Travel Log Book)’ by Norhayati bin Abu Bakar.
In the evening, an authors meet was held, featuring a panel comprising Haji Mohd Rozan, Dr Aamton Alias, Ikhtiyar Group, Sophia Ali, Siti Nurdahlia Dollah and Hajib Sarhan.
The event will continue today with a coffee chat on ‘creative writing industry development and growth in Brunei Darussalam,’ followed by workshops on calligraphy, copywriting and creative writing, before concluding with a sharing session on inspiration for writing children’s books.
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