Books Literature

The revolution begun in 1945 must be completed

Preserving the literary past

Three women authors take the Indonesian literary world by storm

Always controversial, Mochtar Lubis was one of Indonesia’s most respected journalists and best-known authors for over four decades.

Djenar Maesa Ayu – one of Indonesia’s exciting new female authors

Australia: an alternative West in Asia?

Pramoedya was an all-round revolutionary writer.

Female autonomy became a prominent theme in Pramoedya’s writing.

In his last interview, Pramoedya kept up his attack on elitism and corruption.

Pramoedya's reputation is still dogged by the cultural polemics of the Sukarno era

An Australian academic describes the personal impact of Pramoedya’s writing.

An activist reflects on Pramoedya’s significance for young Indonesians.

A younger writer remembers Pramoedya’s influence on his own life and work.

Pramoedya the writer was also an historian who loved his country.

New Indonesian writers receive international exposure.

This short story, written by an ex-political prisoner, has never been published in its original Indonesian version. We cannot disclose the author's real name or the various pseudonyms under which she has been publishing since her release. A member of Gerwani, a women's organisation with alleged connections with the Indonesian Communist Party, banned since the so-­called coup of September 1965, the author seems to have started writing fiction only after her detention. The experience colours much of her writing. Most of her short stories are about the down and out, the women whom poverty has driven to theft, begging and prostitution, the 'criminals' (or were they the victims?) with whom the author shared her prison cells.