Editor's note: Growing up in Singapore, my high-school literature curriculum – as far as I can remember it – consisted of a steady diet of Sophocles and Shakespeare. It was not till much later, rooting through the shelves at libraries and used-book stores, that I encountered many of the tongues and … [Read more...]
In a year without travel, this Indonesian author lets you choose your own adventure
March 25, 2021 by
The story starts with a pair of red shoes and a deal with the devil. But where it ends is up to reader — sort of. That's the concept behind Indonesian author Intan Paramaditha's latest novel, The Wandering. It's been longlisted for the Stella Prize — Australia's book award for women and … [Read more...]
In Suspicion of Beauty: On Eka Kurniawan
March 13, 2021 by
When the English-language editions of Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty is a Wound and Man Tiger were published last year, they were greeted with great critical acclaim. Beauty is a Wound made it into the New York Times’ annual list of the top 100 notable books for 2015. As a scholar and translator of modern … [Read more...]
Rahasia Salinem
March 7, 2021 by
It’s honestly not an easy book to make a review of, not because I’ve never heard of the writers before, nor is it because I wasn’t aware of its existence (I blame it on my lack of exposure to publishers other than the major ones). It’s simply because Rahasia Salinem is just too good to start to … [Read more...]
The Writer Who Challenges the Notion that ‘Asian Novels’ Are a Monolith
January 27, 2021 by
Southeast Asian literature is often seen as a monolith — this, despite the fact that the subregion consists of 11 countries, each bearing an immeasurable number of unique cultures and languages. Indonesian writer Erni Aladjai is deeply familiar with the discourse. She says that the lack of … [Read more...]
