There are three books I am adding to my book lists from Asia today. You can see the full lists on my website on the Picture Book List page. Syria – Nour’s Secret Library, by Wafa’ Tarnowska, illustrated by Vali Mintzi, and published by Barefoot Books, is based on true events that took place … [Read more...]
“People from Bloomington” by Budi Darma
May 24, 2022 by
People from Bloomington is, true to its name, a collection of stories about various people in the American Midwest—in the university town of Bloomington, Indiana to be precise—set in the late 1970s. As examples of the craft of short story writing, these will do nicely: each is well-constructed and … [Read more...]
“Happy Stories, Mostly” by Norman Erikson Pasaribu
May 24, 2022 by
Norman Erikson Pasaribu is an Indonesian poet whose debut collection Sergius Mencari Bacchus won the 2015 Jakarta Arts Council Poetry Competition. It was translated as Sergius Seeks Bacchus by Tiffany Tsao. Pasaribu’s recent collection of short stories, Cerita-Cerita Bahagia Hampir Seluruhnya, has … [Read more...]
The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha puts the reader in charge
May 23, 2022 by
Despite their reader-empowering name, choose-your-own-adventure books are more distinguished by the limits placed on the reader’s choice of path than any broad freedom of literary navigation. At most you will have three or four possible paths, and all are bound to lead to the end. What’s more, even … [Read more...]
Orang-Orang Bloomington
May 19, 2022 by
Budi Darma’s narrative is always a place where readers will find the darkest sides of human beings: hatred, envy, spitefulness, loneliness, indifference, anger, obsession, resentment. If anyone ever read his works before (for example: Hotel Tua, Kritikus Adinan, or Olenka), they’ll know right away … [Read more...]
