INDONESIA FOCUS: Q+A Laksmi Pamuntjak

Indonesia is the country of focus at the London Book Fair this year and recently at Frankfurt - to what extent do you think Indonesian literature is finally having it's moment in the spotlight? I cannot say for certain what these one-off ‘spotlights’ on Indonesian literature would mean for Indonesian literature in the long term. But it is an encouraging sign; the relatively short three-and-a-half-year gap between Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) 2015 and London Book Fair (LBF) 2019 means we are still—or possibly even more—interesting to the publishing industry. And while I wish more Indonesian writers are being translated into English—and translated well—some of us are starting to break through internationally. It always takes one or two to pave the way. For me personally, FBF was a game changer in many ways. Before that we didn’t have the publishing infrastructure necessary with which to promote our literature abroad. We didn’t have literary agents – in fact I only knew of one, and he used to work for my Indonesian publisher Gramedia. It was he who took a chance on the English version of my first novel, Amba/The Question of Red, and brought it to Frankfurt Book Fair in 2013, where the novel was picked up by Ullstein Verlag and published in Germany in 2015, ahead of the FBF.  So I was very fortunate. A few months later, I landed a literary agent in New York, through whom I managed to sell world rights to other European markets. Later this year, I signed up with another literary... Continue reading at 'British Council global'

[ British Council global | 2019-02-08 10:06:53 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "INDONESIA FOCUS: Q+A Laksmi Pamuntjak"


Picador lands Mulvey's stories and debut novel

Picador has landed a story collection and debut novel from Niamh Mulvey, writer of publishing newsletter “In the Read” and a former Quercus commissioning editor. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-04 22:15:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Vintage editor Lily Lindon's 'wild ride' debut goes to Head of Zeus

The debut novel of Vintage editor Lily Lindon has gone to Head of Zeus in a four-way auction, as part of a two-book deal.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-04 09:59:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: Why do women stay with toxic men? A debut novel has some uncomfortable answers

Megan Nolan's "Acts of Desperation," about a woman in thrall to an older man, stands out from similar tales with an uncannily self-aware narrator. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-03-03 15:00:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this


HCG acquires three-book series from Chan

Hachette Children's has acquired world rights to a new series from British Chinese author M Chan. The Tiger Warrior series is billed as a "thrilling" action-adventure series for children aged five to seven, steeped in East Asian folklore and mythology.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-03 13:52:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


In ‘Who Is Maud Dixon?,’ a Dream Job Leads to a Twisty Nightmare

Alexandra Andrews’s debut novel follows a Machiavellian aspiring writer who becomes entangled in her work for a best-selling fiction writer. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-03-03 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


We Can’t Believe Survivors’ Stories If We Never Hear Them

When we started sheltering in place at the beginning of the pandemic, in a burst of energy and optimism I haven’t experienced since, I started a social distance book club. I selected Lara Williams’s debut novel Supper Club, which I’d recently read, because I thought a book that centered on women... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-03-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


“Justine” Is a Coming-of-Age Novel for the Tamogotchi Set

Perhaps it’s not surprising that even the prose in illustrator Forsyth Harmon’s debut novel Justine is deeply imagistic. Reading this short, powerful story feels like wandering through a museum exhibit about teenage girlhood on Long Island in the summer of 1999. Narrator Ali and her friends feed... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-03-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Review: ‘Burnt Sugar,’ by Avni Doshi

“Burnt Sugar,” a debut novel by Avni Doshi, depicts a particularly intense mother-daughter relationship — from the tormented daughter’s point of view. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-03-02 10:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hodder Studios pre-empts Bonner's 'brilliantly addictive' debut thriller

Hodder Studios has pre-empted two books from Sarah Bonner, including her debut novel Her Perfect Twin, described as an "original, compelling and propulsive" thriller.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-01 10:16:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Virago bags Sharma Taylor's 'deeply moving' debut

Virago has acquired the debut novel by Sharma Taylor, What a Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You, at auction as part of a two-book deal.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-01 03:02:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Sceptre takes two from 'stunning' Craig

Sceptre has landed a "stunning" short story collection and debut novel by Serpent's Tail assistant editor Leon Craig. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-28 15:58:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’

‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ is one of the best-known and most widely studied short stories written by the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Subtitled ‘A Parable’, the story originally appeared in a gift book titled The Token and Atlantic Souvenir in 1836, before being collected in Hawthorne’s... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2021-02-27 15:00:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Headless Woman: On Susan Taubes and Clarice Lispector

“DER LETZTE TANZ” (“The Last Dance”) — a story by Hungarian American author Susan Taubes written in German and published posthumously — tells the story of Mary Ann, a young girl who has an on-and-off love affair with a man she calls Death. He visits her in dreams, for the first time at the age... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-26 16:00:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lauren Oyler’s Narrator Is Unreliable, but So Are All of Us Online

Lauren Oyler’s debut novel brings the reader down a rabbit hole of endless, mindless scrolling, online identities, and conspiracy theories. Fake Accounts follows the journey of a young woman after she discovers that her boyfriend is running an Instagram account spouting dangerous conspiracies... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Resisting the Easy Impulse: Te-Ping Chen in Conversation with Brenda Peynado

I also love the way that surreality and exaggeration can work in short stories in ways that they don’t often in novels. The wilder the conceit, the harder it is to sustain, like it’s rocket fuel. The post Resisting the Easy Impulse: Te-Ping Chen in Conversation with Brenda Peynado appeared first... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-02-26 10:59:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


His Debut Novel Won the Pulitzer. Now It Has an Action-Packed Sequel.

In “The Committed,” a follow-up to “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen’s nameless spy navigates a Paris underworld rife with drug deals, violence and colonialism’s ghosts. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-26 10:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


13 Y.A. Books to Add to Your Reading List This Spring

A retelling of “The Great Gatsby,” a healer fighting for her freedom and more: Here are 13 upcoming Y.A. titles you won’t want to miss this spring. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-25 23:34:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


10 of the Best Short Stories by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-70) is best-known for his fifteen novels and for shorter books like A Christmas Carol. However, Dickens’s was a restless talent, and during his publishing career that spanned more than thirty-five years, he also wrote countless articles, essays, and short stories. Although... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2021-02-25 15:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


An Argentinian Underworld Haunted by the Ghosts of the Disappeared

In Daniel Loedel’s haunting debut novel Hades, Argentina, Tomás Orilla returns to Buenos Aires—“a city made for forgetting as much for nostalgia”—ten years after fleeing the military dictatorship whose regime disappeared upwards of 30,000 thousand political opponents, including Isabel Aroztegui,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Nico Walker has seen the film adaptation of his book, and he’s not impressed.

The movie adaptation of Nico Walker’s Cherry—the best-selling debut novel about an Iraq veteran turned heroin addict turned bank robber—will be released in theaters in two days, directed by the Russo Brothers (who you might know from Avengers) and starring Tom Holland (who you might know from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-24 18:21:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this