Understanding Indonesia through literary festivals

In May I came to Indonesia to investigate the country’s literary landscape in an effort to bring the Asia Pacific Writers and Translators’ annual event to Jakarta in 2017. Yet, I returned to Melbourne with far more than connections to run next year’s event. As someone who knew very little about Indonesian literature, I came to understand the various literary events and people’s passion for literature in a country where, apparently, literature and reading do not take high priority. My journey took me to Jakarta and also to Makassar, South Sulawesi, where two rather new literary festivals embrace and reflect the people’s changing relationship with literature. This relationship is perhaps often not seen in and beyond Indonesia.