Oct 22, 2024 Last Updated 12:10 AM, Oct 22, 2024

Books Literature

A twist of fate

Indonesian novels about 1965 reach back to the Mahabharata to find hope and resignation 

Bringing Indonesian literature to the world

Lontar Publishing’s John McGlynn speaks with Petia Dimitrova about the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair 2015 at which Indonesia is the Guest of Honour nation and about the challenges of publishing Indonesian literature in translation

Review: Lontar’s Modern Library of Indonesian Literature

Translations of Indonesian literature offer insights into both the universality and particularity of Indonesian culture and society

Review: Democracy, corruption and the politics of spirits in contemporary Indonesia

Nils Bubandt brings an exciting new approach to the study of Indonesia's politics

Review: Exploring the musical pasts of the Toba Batak

Julia Byl’s ethnographic study reveals a musical tradition formed by its interactions with other cultures and musical influences  

Freedom

Arguably Indonesia's finest living writer of fiction, Putu Wijaya reflects on Indonesia's nationhood in his short story, 'Freedom'.

T-shirt cosmopolitanism

Popular forms of writing in public reveal the richness of Balinese revitalisation

Palm-leaf manuscripts in today’s Bali

The world of lontar will likely continue side by side with the new technologies of our digital age

The Mahabharata in comics

Reincarnations of works by the great Indonesian comic artists challenge manga’s dominance

A many-headed machine

The story of Indonesian literature is a fragmenting journey from national myth to bewildering multiplication

New aromas

'Fragrant literature' is giving way to a diversity of literary voices and identities

What’s trending?

Young Indonesians are leading trends in Indonesian writing and publishing

Indonesian writing in the present: Introduction

Important Indonesian writing is emerging in unexpected forms

Book Review: Tiger Stone

Deryn Mansell’s novel opens a window into Indonesia for younger readers

KITLV Reading Room gone, collection remains

The Institute will continue to operate without its famous reading room

Review: Seeking peace without justice

The memoir of a former human rights commission official gives insights into handling of human rights in Indonesia in the late New Order and early reformasi period

Review: Coming to terms with 1965

Can the descendants of both sides of 1965 come together to help the nation achieve reconciliation?

Review: Money, power and ideology in Indonesia’s political party system

Marcus Mietzner argues that when seen in the context of other new democracies, Indonesia’s political parties are not so bad

Review: Jokowi: From Solo to Jakarta and beyond?

Bob Lowry reviews the memoir of the current Jakarta governor and likely frontrunner for the 2014 presidential elections

Seeking identity, seeking Indonesia

Pulang'sauthor reflects on writing the stories of those unseen and unheard

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A selection of stories from the Indonesian classics and modern writers, periodically published free for Inside Indonesia readers, courtesy of Lontar.