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Seno Gumira Ajidarma

Writer


Born Boston, Massachusetts (Jun 19, 1958), currently resides in Jakarta
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An author of short stories, essays, and movie scripts. He is also known as a journalist, photographer and lecturer. He won the 1997 S.E.A. Write Award (Southeast Asian Writers Award). Some of his well-known short stories are Manusia Kamar (1988), Penembak Misterius (1993), Saksi Mata (1994), Dilarang Menyanyi di Kamar Mandi (1995), Sebuah Pertanyaan untuk Cinta (1996) and Iblis Tidak Pernah Mati (1999).

Seno has been writing fiction since the age of 16 and began working as a journalist when he was 19. He has published more than 30 books since the 1980s when he emerged as a prominent short story writer in the genre known as sastra koran (newspaper literature).

Seno’s short stories often both document everyday life and criticize contemporary social, cultural and political conditions. He has been a consistent advocate of free speech and freedom of publication, writing about sensitive issues, including military violence in East Timor in the stories of Eyewitness and in his 1996 novel, Jazz, Parfum dan Insiden (Jazz, Perfume and an Incident). Other subject matter has included the so-called “mysterious killings” in East Java in the early 1980s, and instability in Aceh.

Seno’s credo is “When journalism is silenced, literature must speak. Because while journalism speaks with facts, literature speaks with truth.”

His writing styles are varied, from reportage and realism to fantasy. When asked in 2001 whether he is a journalist, a short story writer, a poet or a political commentator, and about whether his work is surrealism, magic realism, fantasy or postmodern journalism, he said simply, ‘Call it whatever you want. It’s what I do.’ In 2014, he launched a blog called PanaJournal that featured human interest stories along with various journalists and communication professionals.1


  1. Wikipedia 


Book(s)


“Anak ini Mau Mengencingi Jakarta?”
("This Kid Wants to Urinate all over Jakarta?”)
Anthology
222 page(s), Penerbit Buku Kompas
Negeri Kabut
Collection of Short Stories
160 page(s), Grasindo
Saksi Mata
Collection of Short Stories
168 page(s), Bentang Pustaka
Sepotong Senja untuk Pacarku
Collection of Short Stories
220 page(s), Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Eyewitness: Short Story
Collection of Short Stories
123 page(s), Lontar Foundation
Tiada Ojek di Paris
Essay Collection
210 page(s), Mizan Publishing
Kitab Omong Kosong
(The Book of Nonsense)
Novel
456 page(s), Bentang Pustaka
Un Soir du Paris
Collection of Short Stories
144 page(s), Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Dunia Sukab
Collection of Short Stories
160 page(s), Penerbit Buku Kompas
Jakarta 2039
Collection of Short Stories
82 page(s), Galang Pustaka


Work(s) in Translation




What Media Say




Also Mentioned in ...


Five Minutes With… Pam Allen - UWRF News (May 07, 2017)
Rethinking Censorship in Indonesia by Tiffany Tsao - Sydney Review of Books (Nov 06, 2015)
A many-headed machine by Hendrik Maier - Inside Indonesia (Jul 17, 2015)
Putting the Word Out by Nithin Coca - Southeast Asia Globe (Oct 30, 2014)



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