Born and raised as a Muslim in Indonesia, I can’t help but notice the increasing popularity of the hijrah (migration) movement, especially among the young generation of Muslims in Indonesia. The transformation of young people from cultural Muslims into more devout ones has become more visible in … [Read more...]
Southeast Asian Women’s Fiction: 5 Short Reads
January 4, 2021 by
Southeast Asian literature has not garnered as much attention as its neighboring counterparts. And yet, the worlds and characters crafted by Southeast Asian writers form a rich and subtly critical scene that begs to be discovered. Women writers, in particular, have much to do with enriching this … [Read more...]
Winners of the 2016 Emerging Voices awards announced
September 26, 2020 by
Eka Kurniawan, Gareth Nyandoro and Clarissa Campolina take the prizes for fiction, art and film. The Indonesian writer Eka Kurniawan won the $40,000 prize for best novel at the second FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices awards in New York on Monday. Kurniawan won the award for his novel Man … [Read more...]
Cultural (Un)translatability in Kurniawan’s Man Tiger
September 23, 2020 by
Translating literary works from one language to another is never easy—especially when the two languages have huge different paradigms. Incommensurate modes of thinking and understanding under different paradigms would make it impossible to translate certain terms or phrases, that finally … [Read more...]
The Lekra Spirit Lives: Martin Aleida on Indonesia’s Revolutionary Cultural Group
September 23, 2020 by
Designer Tings Chak spoke with Indonesian writer Martin Aleida about Lekra and the legacy of repression of left movements in Indonesia. “It was the worst when I was released. That’s the biggest prison I had to face.” Martin Aleida recalls the moment he was released from prison at the end of … [Read more...]
