Goenawan Mohammad: This is a once-in-a-lifetime project

The 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair ended in mid-October. As the guest of honor at the world's largest book fair, Indonesia chose the slogan '17,000 Islands of Imagination' to lead its presentation. It was a huge success, although the team only had two years to prepare for the event, compared to the five to six years other countries had. Literary figure and artist Goenawan Mohamad was appointed chair of the Indonesian National Committee at the beginning of this year. The brief preparation period as well as rigid bureaucracy were the committee's main challenge. Fortunately, Goenawan had a highly dependable team. "We had a wonderful team. They worked full time. We were at work 24/7," Goenawan told Tempo reporters Ali Nur Yasin, Iqbal Muhtarom and Anisatul in Yogyakarta two weeks ago.