An author and journalist specializing in Indonesia and the Indian Subcontinent. His Raffles and the British Invasion of Java, an account of the five-year British interregnum in 19th-century Java, won the 2013 John Brooks Award. His most recent book is A Brief History of Indonesia.
Born and brought up in Cornwall in the far west of the United Kingdom, he first came to Indonesia a decade ago as a globetrotting surfer. That first journey – through the outer reaches of Nusa Tenggara at the height of the wet season – was the start of an enduring fascination, and he soon returned to live and work in Java, first as a teacher, and then as a journalist and photographer.1
Book Story(s)
“Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash” by Eka Kurniawan (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash), published in Asian Review of Books (Sep 14, 2017)
Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker (Beauty Is A Wound), published in Asian Review of Books (Oct 13, 2015)