Tiffany Tsao

Writer / See Roots

She was born in San Diego, California and currently lives in Sydney, Australia
https://tiffanytsao.com/

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Photo courtesy / credit goes to Leah Diprose / Straits Times

A writer and literary translator. She is the author of the novel Under Your Wings (US edition forthcoming in early 2020 as The Majesties) and the Oddfits fantasy series. Her translations from Indonesian to English include Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s poetry collection Sergius Seeks Bacchus, Dee Lestari’s novel Paper Boats, and Laksmi Pamuntjak’s The Birdwoman’s Palate.

Born in the United States and of Chinese-Indonesian descent, her family returned to Southeast Asia when she was 3 years old. She spent her formative years in Singapore (8 years) and Indonesia (6 years) before moving to the US for university. She has a B.A. in English literature from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in English literature from UC-Berkeley. She now lives in Sydney, Australia with her spouse and two children.¹

http://tiffanytsao.com/ ↩

Book(s)

The Majesties
Novel
272 page(s), Atria Books

Under Your Wings
Novel
page(s), Viking Australia

The More Known World (The Oddfits Series Book 2)
Novel
300 page(s), AmazonCrossing

BooksActually’s Gold Standard 2016
Anthology
350 page(s), Math Paper Press

The Oddfits (The Oddfits Series)
Novel
256 page(s), AmazonCrossing

She also Writes ...

Why Are Indonesians Being Erased from Indonesian Literature?, published in Electric Literature

What Media Say

Translator Interview: Tiffany Tsao by Claire Handscombe — Libro.fm Blog (Aug 14, 2020)

Tiffany Tsao: Giving outsiders a voice by Teddy Hans — Jakarta Post (Jan 26, 2020)

All of What It Could Be: In Conversation with Tiffany Tsao by Sarah Timmer Harvey — Asymptote (Jun 10, 2019)

Meet the Translator: Tiffany Tsao Interview (Indonesian to English) by Jessica Esa — Books and Bao (May 10, 2019)

Also Mentioned in ...

The Problem With Promoting Indonesian Literature Abroad?: A Simplistic White Gaze by Theodora Sarah Abigail - Jakarta Globe (Mar 05, 2019)

Amazon expands its literary horizons, making big imprint in translation niche by Ángel González - The Seattle Times (Apr 15, 2017)

Press Release: AmazonCrossing Announces Spotlight on Indonesian Literature - Digital Book World (Oct 15, 2015)

Media Writing(s)

Worlds-Within-Worlds: A Testimonial, on Avianti Armand, Laksmi Pamuntjak, Nh. Dini, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, published in Asymptote (Jan 19, 2015)

Nh. Dini’s Modernity, on Nh. Dini, published in Asymptote (Jan 01, 2015)

Notes from the Field: Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2014, on Bunyamin Fasya Debra Yatim, Maggie Tiojakin, , published in Asymptote (Oct 13, 2014)

Book Story(s)

Intan Paramaditha’s ‘Gentayangan’ crosses many borders (Gentayangan: Pilih Sendiri Petualangan Sepatu Merahmu), published in Jakarta Post (Nov 13, 2017)

Pulp horror (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash), published in Mekong Review (Nov 01, 2017)

Postcolonial Life and Death: A Process-Based Comparison of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Ayu Utami’s Saman (Saman) (Saman: A Novel), published in Personal Blog (Mar 01, 2014)

Media Clipping(s)

Weekly Dispatches from the Frontlines of World Literature, published in Asymptote (Apr 14, 2017)

Rethinking Censorship in Indonesia, published in Sydney Review of Books (Nov 06, 2015)

Books in Translation(s) / Editing(s)

Kitchen Curse, by Eka Kurniawan ,

Sergius Seeks Bacchus, by Norman Erikson Pasaribu ,

The Birdwoman’s Palate, by Laksmi Pamuntjak ,

Paper Boats, by Dee Lestari

Work(s) in Translation

So What’s Your Name, Sandra?, by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, published in Catapult in Translation (May 01, 2020)

A Flyer, by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, published in The House of Thirst (Jul 17, 2018)

A History-to-Come of Helmbrellas: Their Features and Fates, by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, published in Transpacific Literary Project: Fluid (Dec 13, 2017)

On a Pair of Young Men in the Underground Parking Garage at fX Sudirman Mall, by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, published in Asia Literary Review — Issue 33 (Apr 01, 2017)