Author Isna Marifa published her debut work titled Mountains More Ancient in 2020. It is a fictional tale with a real historical backdrop. The novel's main character, Parto, portrays a Javanese man who falls into debt and is sold to the Dutch by a loan shark. Parto takes his daughter, Wulan, with … [Read more...]
2016 Man Booker International Q&A: Labodalih Sembiring
July 31, 2022 by
Labodalih Sembiring was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Eka Kurniawan's Man Tiger. Labodalih Sembiring is the pen name of Muhammad Dalih Akbar Sembiring. Born in North Sumatra, the ex-features journalist currently lives in Yogyakarta as a writer, … [Read more...]
Sex in Indonesia: Menikah by novelist Jane Maryam
March 13, 2022 by
Jane Maryam is an Indonesian activist who works on gender and sexuality issues. She decided to embody those issues in a set of characters in a novel, including a polygamous wife, a lesbian and a transgender woman. She draws on the lives of her friends, on people she met through her work in NGOs, and … [Read more...]
Collection ‘People Without Genitals’ is equally humane as it is spooky
March 13, 2022 by
Short story collection Manusia Tanpa Kelamin (People Without Genitals) puts forth contemporary issues through a fictional lens Imagine if every single human being was born without sexual organs. Would we be able to stop sexual abuse and control our lusts? In the title story of her latest short story … [Read more...]