Exploring new ideas of what it means to be a good mother eases this writer into a life that doesn't orbit around her child anymore. A brown-skinned woman with close-cut hair is standing in a metal room, facing a metal door. Millions of miles away from Earth, this door is all that separates her … [Read more...]
Writings
Fate ball
Kivlan dribbled the ball. Not a leather ball like the one Aroma FC players used, but an old plastic ball that was not balanced when rolled. It made aiming more complicated: if a striker kicked the ball, it would not reach the intended target. Because it was so light, the ball would fly away from the … [Read more...]
Fire and Son
On the curb, Saryono sits still, just like usual. It is dark, and the busy road grows thicker with cars and buses. His position is always the same, sitting on the sidewalk. There are two parts to a sidewalk, the grass and the cement, but Saryono chooses not to sit on the grassy side; because it … [Read more...]
Foreword from Makassar International Writers Festival
Who are we as Indonesians? How do we define or redefine our identity as Indonesians? These questions have been going around in my mind over the past months for two reasons: firstly, because this year’s festival theme is Diversity and secondly, because the recent social and political escalations … [Read more...]
Frankfurt Book Fair: Indonesian authors on fire!
What comes to people’s mind when they hear the name “Indonesia”? In the past it was Islamic extremist terrorism, currently it’s Indonesia’s gigantic forest fires that are contributing to global warming, featuring 94,192 fires in 2015 and costing US$1.4 billion in damage so far. But in … [Read more...]
