KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

 Keynote Speaker
Ezra Mohd Zaid

Ezra Mohd Zaid is the head of ZI Publications, a new independent Malaysian publishing house. Ezra is a personable and engaging young man bursting with vigour and wonderful ideas to shake up the local literary landscape a bit—exactly the kind of publisher we need in a contemporary Malaysia: broadminded, intelligent, passionate, funny and straight-talking at the same time. Ezra had completed his high school in Geelong Grammar School in Australia and graduated with a degree in Political Science and Philosophy from The University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He had also hosted a series of 5 to 10 minutes political satire show that was called ‘That Effing Show’ (TES). It comprises of great issues that swirls around Malaysians and are striving to make it comprehensible to Malaysians in a fun, humorous and easy-going way. 


Keynote Speaker
Irene Fernandez 

Irene Fernandez is a director and co-founder of the non-governmental organization called Tenaganita which promotes the right of the poorest, migrant workers and other oppressed people. She was born on 1946 and a mum to three children and several foster children. She has been arrested in 1996 and charged with 'maliciously publishing false news' due to her report entitled, "Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres" in 1995 and found guilty in 2003 after 7 years of trial and convicted to one year imprisonment. However, she never gives up to fight and stand up for the human rights. She is one kind of the whistleblowers that Malaysia need.