There is a creeping silence in Indonesia. At the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Sam Flynn spoke to those who write from the margins, despite the real and violent repercussions they face for doing so. Last month, I went to the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. When I tell people, they often … [Read more...]
Literature is the new cool
January 16, 2018 by
Recently, there has been increased demand among the Indonesian public for quality literary works thanks to the influence of social media, literary references in popular culture and thriving literary festivals across the country as well as international recognition for some local authors. That is … [Read more...]
A Frankfurt to remember: round up of news, anecdotes, friends and firsts
October 13, 2017 by
Even though the Pontas Agency has been attending the Frankfurt Book Fair uninterruptedly for 22 years since Anna Soler-Pont launched the company in 1992, the past edition has been, in many aspects, a book fair full of “firsts”. Five members of our team, in the photo below, attended the fair: Anna, … [Read more...]
Politics on poets’ mind
October 9, 2017 by
Freedom of expression is something worthwhile that we have to keep. Prolific writer and poet Sitor Situmorang, who died in 2004, was arrested in 1967 and imprisoned without trial for eight years at Salemba penitentiary in Jakarta during Soeharto’s authoritarian New Order regime for his … [Read more...]
Max Lane brings millennial generation closer to works of Pramoedya
October 8, 2017 by
The name Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia’s foremost writer who was born in 1925 and died in 2006, still resonates to this day, not just in Indonesia but internationally, bridging the cultural divide. However, can Indonesia’s millennial generation, whose “best friends” are their devices, … [Read more...]