2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Labodalih Sembiring

What drew you to Eka Kurniawan's work?​ Labodalih Sembiring (LS): Eka and I had never met in person prior to this project. One of our mutual friends heard that he needed a translator, and suggested that he and Benedict Anderson contact me. They then asked me, as well as several other translators, to translate the first few pages of Lelaki Harimau (the original title), which I had never read before. So technically those three people were the forces that drew me to the novel (as well as another friend who lent me the book). Now that I think about it, the explanation of why they picked me over the others never quite expanded from “We like your translation.”