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"

HarperCollins wins six-way auction for debut from S&S's Pronovost

HarperCollins has triumphed in a heated six-publisher auction for the debut novel by Nita Prose, the pen name for vice president and editorial director at Simon & Schuster in Canada, Nita Pronovost. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-25 11:27:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Review: A wicked debut novel about a levitation cult occasionally lifts off

Emily Temple's "The Lightness," about a seeker who loses more than she finds, is a beguiling novel after Donna Tartt's heart, if not her plotting. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-06-24 13:45:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Paid to Seduce Another Man’s Wife, He Fell Violently in Love With Her

“What’s Left of Me Is Yours,” a debut novel by Stephanie Scott, is inspired by the events surrounding an unlikely murder that occurred in Japan. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-06-23 09:00:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Felicity Bryan dies, aged 74

Literary agent Felicity Bryan has died, aged 74. She died on Sunday (June 21st) at her home in Kidlington "as she had wished", according to a statement from her family. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-22 06:13:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Obituary: U.K. Literary Agent Felicity Bryan

Felicity Bryan, founder of Felicity Bryan Associates and one of Britain’s most respected literary agents, died June 21 of cancer. She was 74. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Black & White buys Andrew Cotter's dog story

Black & White Publishing has acquired world rights for Scottish sports commentator Andrew Cotter's story of his adventures with his dogs Olive and Mabel, who have become lockdown hits online. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-18 15:40:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Faber acquires Lanchester's 'unsettling' short story collection

Faber is to publish a collection of short stories by John Lanchester this autumn. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-18 08:59:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this

FBF confirmed to be unaffected by Germany's mass events ban

The Frankfurt Book Fair is still scheduled for October, despite a government extension of the ban on mass events in Germany to the end of that month, the prime minister for the German state of Hesse has confirmed. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-17 22:45:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Five Italian Short Story Collections You Should Read

Short stories by contemporary Italian writers are hard to come across and almost none of them make it across the Atlantic. Booksellers and publishers seem to stay away from them because—what’s new?—they sell less, as they apparently lack “the immersive factor.” However, readers in the twentieth... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-16 08:48:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Lockdown diaries: the debut author

It was Sunday 22nd March when I emailed Carrie, my literary agent, telling her I’d had an idea in the bath and although it felt far-fetched, I wanted to explore it and could she please call me on Monday for a quick chat. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-12 11:19:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Publishers want more black authors. Why have they silenced us for so long? | Candice Carty-Williams

As Black Lives Matter protests take place across the world, the publishing world is rushing to support those ‘ignored by the mainstream’. Who is the mainstream, then?The publishing industry is stilted and archaic. I worked in it for seven years, and left due to reasons I can’t legally talk... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-06-11 09:44:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Two Roads pre-empts debut novel from Mary Karras

Hachette imprint Two Roads has pre-empted a debut novel from Mary Karras, in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-11 01:23:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Religion Book Deals: June 10, 2020

Zondervan takes a gift book on ‘How Far You Have Come,’ literary agent Blythe Daniel gets her own book deal, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

A Teenager Plays With Fire and Family Secrets in ‘The Margot Affair’

As Sanaë Lemoine’s debut novel progresses, its narrator falls increasingly in thrall to the only people who seem interested in her inner life. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-06-09 19:07:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this

‘The Jane Austen Society’ will especially delight the kinds of Austen fans who can recite ‘Persuasion’ from memory

Natalie Jenner’s debut novel is no Jane Austen work, but it does offer plenty of delights. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-09 16:11:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Parakeet Brings out the Delightfully Weird, Unexpectedly Wise Side of Marie-Helene Bertino, by Taylor Hickney

Cultural Cross Sections Taylor Hickney In this profile, one of Marie-Helene Bertino’s students at the New School provides a personal glimpse of the author, whose new novel, Parakeet, was published June 2. On the evening of the National Book Awards,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-04 19:40:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Hachette joins Frankfurt Book Fair exodus

Hachette UK will not be exhibiting at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, the firm has announced. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-03 03:50:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this

A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Man of the Crowd’

‘The Man of the Crowd’ is one of the shorter short stories written by Edgar Allan Poe (who pioneered the short story form when it was still an emerging force in nineteenth-century magazines and periodicals). Written in 1840, the story is deliciously enigmatic and, in some ways, prefigures later... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2020-06-02 14:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Three Agents Resign After Red Sofa Literary Owner's Tweet

Three literary agents affiliated with Red Sofa Literary, a boutique agency in St. Paul, Minn., resigned this past weekend after its principal tweeted that she was calling police to report looting on her block. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-31 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this