Discover the voices of Indonesian writers through curated stories and insights that bring their works to the world.

The City and the Writer: In Jakarta with Khairani Barokka

Art, resistance, “slang unfurling and evolving”: Khairani Barokka considers Jakarta in all its multiplicity.

Can you describe the mood of Jakarta as you feel/see it?

Hypercapitalist monstrosities amidst unmappable jalan tikus (“rat lanes”); uncapturable masses; brawling, unresting, sonic pulse-scapes; sleaze and azan; laughter and fireworks; unending persistence of mothers of the disappeared; aches of resilience, in a city of quiet blows; slang unfurling and evolving; culinary magnetism all across the map; dangdut and hundreds of archipelagic languages, philosophies, and bodily rhythms echoing street vendors booming into uneven streets, sounding, sounding, sounding.