Every year, the Periplus collective awards mentorships to writers of color living and working in the United States, pairing each one with a member of the collective: an established writer who will meet monthly with their mentee to foster community, support their writing practice, and advise on the … [Read more...]
Malam Seribu Jahanam
January 4, 2026 by
All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Malam Seribu Jahanam, Intan Paramaditha’s second novel after the critically acclaimed Gentayangan in 2017 (published as The Wandering in English translation in 2020) is … [Read more...]
The Desolate Order of the Head in the Water
January 2, 2026 by
A child walks into a half-abandoned city with half-crumbling skyscrapers and gardens half-turned into deserts. The child, a twelve-year-old boy in sturdy hiking boots and a hydration pack, with tears pooling in his eyes and blisters on his feet, arrives in the city near midnight, and because of that … [Read more...]
The murder of Affan Kurniawan
January 1, 2026 by
Affan Kurniawan, a twenty-one-year-old motorcycle taxi rider, was working in Jakarta when he was struck by an armoured vehicle belonging to the Mobile Brigade Corps, an elite unit of the Indonesian National Police. The vehicle, weighing several tons, didn’t even try to avoid him; footage that … [Read more...]
People from Oetimu
December 29, 2025 by
“Torn between jealousy and heartbreak, the men began to drink.” Oetimu, 1998 One hour before the murderers raided Martin Kabiti’s house on the night of the World Cup finals, Sergeant Ipi drove by on his motorbike. It was an rx King model, its muffler modified so that wherever he … [Read more...]
