Rilda Taneko

An avid reader and has been publishing her writings in national newspapers and journals since she was an undergraduate student. She grew up in Lampung, the southern part of Sumatra in Indonesia, and has lived in several towns in different countries: Jakarta (Indonesia), Maastricht and The Hague (Netherlands), Semenyih (Malaysia), and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (England). Since 2010, she lives in Lancaster, England, a small old town near Lake District, with her husband and son.

After graduating (Cum Laude) from Sociology Department, at Lampung University, Rilda studied for an MA degree in Women, Gender and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University in the Netherlands. Her postgraduate study was funded by Ford Foundation. Rilda had worked as a Coordinator of Public Education and Cases Handling Division at DAMAR, a women advocacy NGO, and as a teaching assistant at the Department of Sociology of Lampung University.

In 2006, she was invited to attend the Leadership for Social Justice Institute in Washington DC. Rilda joined an online Creative Writing Course at Wesleyan University dan a Novel Workshop with Jo Baker in Lancaster. She shared her works in some story exhibitions: 100 Faces, 100 Stories (Newcastle upon Tyne), Castlepark Stories (Lancaster), and Arts in the Parks (Lancaster).

Her novels and short story collections are Kereta Pagi Menuju Den Haag (2010), Anomie (2017), and  Seekor Capung Merah (2019). She won Krakatau Award (2018) and was shortlisted for Khatulistiwa Literary Award (2019), and Penghargaan Sastra Kemendikbudristek Republik Indonesia (2021). Rilda is the founder and host of Kelas Bahasa Lampung Doeloe Boemi¾Lampungnese’s local language online course. Her fourth novel is set to be released April 2023.¹

1. Porch Litmag ↩