“Dear all the women over the entire span of human history, I wish I knew how to help. “But not much has changed in some respects; why is there even the so called progressive society when women are still blamed and shamed; I wish I knew what to do [...]” So said award-winning Australian poet … [Read more...]
Indonesia’s First User-Generated Film Something to Percolate Over
December 7, 2014 by
Readers are hard to please when their favorite books are brought onto the big screen. So to avoid falling short of expectations the team behind an upcoming film decided to produce it based entirely on user input. “Filosofi Kopi” (“Coffee Philosophy”), inspired by the 2006 novel of the same name, … [Read more...]
Unlocking Indonesia Through An Exploration of Its Literature
November 27, 2014 by
Reading novels is an excellent way of getting to know something about a country when one is newly arrived, doesn’t know much about it, and is going to be spending some time there. Certainly this was my experience coming to Indonesia for the first time some decades ago. Only at that time I was … [Read more...]
Putting the Word Out
November 26, 2014 by
The works of Indonesia’s writers are barely known in the literary salons of New York and London, but moves across the archipelago could help a talented new stable of authors ink their names on the bestseller lists. At most literary soirées, mentioning the works of Okky Madasari, Ayu Utami or Seno … [Read more...]
Translating Indonesian Literature: Promoting Culture, Spreading Ideas, Fostering Change
November 26, 2014 by
“…without a love of literature, you’ll remain just a lot of clever animals.” —Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Bumi Manusia In April of 2014, Indonesia’s vice minister for education and culture, Wiendu Nuryanti, announced that the Indonesian government would allocate 11 billion rupiah for the translation … [Read more...]
