“In short, all a young poet needs in order to survive a broken heart is: (1) one button-down shirt or dress, scintillating; (2) one sheet of tissue, premium; (3) a pair of running shoes, soles intact; (4) one novel by a writer with an intimidatingly long name; (5) one empty cardboard instant-noodle … [Read more...]
Welcome to the Department of Unanswered Prayers
June 7, 2023 by
Welcome to the Department of Unanswered Prayers! Here’s your ID. When it’s time to go home, put your badge in your bag and leave the bag in your car. Rather than tossing it in some drawer, I mean, or chucking it somewhere inside your room. Don’t worry. No one will steal it. And don’t forget to bring … [Read more...]
The March 4th Incident
May 18, 2023 by
Indonesian novelist Sabda Armandio's futuristic crime novel 24 Hours with Gaspar is out now from Seagull Books. In this excerpt, translated by Lara Norgaard, the narrator begins his investigation of a mysterious criminal named Gaspar. Before we parted ways in the courtyard of the Gberia Fotombu … [Read more...]
Anna and Her Daughter’s Partner
May 6, 2023 by
A neglected wife and mother has an unexpected reaction to her daughter’s partner in this story by Indonesian writer Laksmi Pamuntjak. — You’d better not think just because we’re married and middle-aged we’ve stopped fantasizing about other men. That’s what your friends say, and to fit in you … [Read more...]
3 Ni Made Purnama Sari English Translations by Norman Erikson Pasaribu
April 19, 2023 by
My Hands my hands, have you finished any work today why do our thoughts keep vanishing, is your grip weakening stay close to me, we’ll spend our days with books again please stop writing poems about us going extinct have a little faith: the three of us are here to stay think more of the … [Read more...]