Dear readers, I never witnessed my grandmothers interact — I don’t think they were ever in the same time zone together, or even the same continent — but they managed to present a united front about some essential principles. Hardly anyone was entitled to privacy, and very few stories could get by … [Read more...]
‘Indonesia Out of Exile’ shines light on literary masterpiece
July 16, 2023 by
Imagine being a young Australian Embassy official having your first look at hundreds of rough, tattered pages smuggled out of a remote island prison camp and quickly recognizing it as one of the literary masterpieces of the 20th century -- a seminal work of historical fiction and postcolonial … [Read more...]
Reda Gaudiamo’s journey from aspiring writer to London Book Fair star
July 13, 2023 by
Author Reda Gaudiamo hopes those who are passionate about writing do not give up easily on their dreams. Reda, who is also known as a one-half of folk duo AriReda, has just returned from the United Kingdom, where she underwent a two-month residency in the historic city of Norwich and promoted … [Read more...]
Author highlights Asian slavery at Cape of Good Hope
July 11, 2023 by
Isna Marifa's novel tells powerful, painful story through rare insights into everyday events In the 17th and 18th centuries, thousands of people from what is now Indonesia and Malaysia were taken as slaves to the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. Descendants of this population, who mixed with … [Read more...]
New International Fiction: Dark Histories, Daunting Labors
July 1, 2023 by
CROOKED PLOW (Verso, 276 pp., paperback, $19.95), by the Afro-Brazilian author Itamar Vieira Junior (and translated by Johnny Lorenz), offers a salt-of-the-earth paean to a land where “the blood of history flows like a river.” Life is hard on the Água Negra plantation in northeastern Brazil in the … [Read more...]