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"


MCB buys festive trio from Alex T Smith

Macmillan Children’s Books has bought three full-colour gift titles written and illustrated by Alex T Smith. Editorial director Gaby Morgan bought world rights in all languages from Alison Eldred at Arena Illustration. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-09 21:23:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this


HC to publish Adventures of Paddington TV tie-ins

HarperCollins Children’s Books has secured world rights to publish the tie-in books for "The Adventures of Paddington", a new Nickelodeon television series launching globally in 2020. The animated pre-school series comprises 26 episodes and features the voice of Ben Whishaw as Paddington in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-08 20:24:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Tramp Press bags 'stunning' Bourke debut

Tramp Press has bagged the “stunning” debut novel from Irish writer Niall Bourke. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-06 16:27:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Doubleday signs debut author Anna Bailey in 'major' pre-empt

Doubleday has signed a "major" pre-emptive deal for world rights in two books from Anna Bailey with the first offers already in from France and Italy. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-06 15:35:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Bloomsbury scoops McMullan’s debut novel

Bloomsbury will publish journalist Thomas McMullan’s debut novel The Last Good Man in November 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-03 21:48:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Legend bags 'stunning' debut from Mustafah

Legend Press has bagged Sahar Mustafah’s "stunning" debut novel charting the background to a shooting at an Islamic school in Chicago. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-03 17:48:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Harvill Secker wins Elaine Feeney's first novel at auction

Irish poet Elaine Feeney’s "dazzlingly inventive" debut novel As You Were will be published by Harvill Secker following an auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-02 15:33:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this


OPEN CALL: Arabic-English Translation Workshop, Sharjah

As part of the Sharjah Market Focus at The London Book Fair in March 2020, the British Council have partnered with New Writing North, Kalimat Group and Sharjah World Book Capital to offer an Arabic-English/English-Arabic Translation Workshop in February 2020.This is an opportunity for up to six... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-12-02 14:33:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Kate Nash Literary Agency promotes Langlee and Guillory

Lina Langlee has been promoted to literary agent at the Kate Nash Literary Agency, while Robbie Guillory also steps up in a series of changes at the firm. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-02 12:10:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Announcing the Guide to Literary Agents 2020!

Guide to Literary Agents editor Robert Lee Brewer announces the Guide to Literary Agents 2020, including what's included in the 29th annual edition of the most trusted guide to getting an agent. The post Announcing the Guide to Literary Agents 2020! by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on... Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-11-28 14:43:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Restless Housewife, a Closeted Vagabond, and Lady Luck

From the title, you might think that On Swift Horses is about cowboys, horse wrangling, rural landscapes—and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Shannon Pufahl’s debut novel explores wide-open spaces and how people navigate them in a post-Depression, post-World War II, Baby Boomer era in Southern... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


International Rights Forum

Discover the opportunities in buying and selling rights in Sharjah and the wider Arab Market at this free half-day seminar on Thursday 5 December 2019. The day, which forms part of The London Book Fair Market Focus Professional Programme will feature a fantastic line-up of speakers looking at... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-11-20 11:14:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ian Williams wins Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize for his debut novel.

Ian Williams, winner of this year’s $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his debut novel Reproduction, began his acceptance speech Monday night with an emotional tribute. “Margaret Atwood over there is the first book I bought with my own money at a bookstore in Brampton,” he told the audience.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-19 20:30:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Interview With Beth O’Leary, Author of WHSmith 2019 Fiction Book of the Year

Congratulations to Beth O'Leary! Her debut novel The Flatshare was recently announced as 2019 Fiction Book of the Year by the British retailer WHSmith—an honor previously bestowed on books such as Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and The Girl on the Train by Paula... Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-11-19 11:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Jessie Cave's debut novel goes to Welbeck

Welbeck Publishing Group has snapped up actor, comedian and memoirist Jessie Cave's debut novel.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-19 09:56:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Pushkin lands Elena Medal's 'exceptional debut'

Pushkin Press will publish a debut novel by "the next great literary voice in Spain", Elena Medel. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-18 09:03:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'Awful and fabulous': the madness of Flowers in the Attic

Forty years ago, VC Andrews’ novel about incest, rape and murder-by-doughnut was declared ‘deranged swill’, but new books under her name still sell. Why?Forty years ago this month, Flowers in the Attic, the debut novel of one VC Andrews was published. A review in the Washington Post didn’t mince... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-11-14 14:02:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Arrow snaps up Paula Greenlees Singapore-based debut in two-book deal

Arrow will publish a "breathtaking" debut novel by Paula Greenlees, inspired by the three years she lived in Singapore. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-13 19:37:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Slowness of Literature and the Shadow of Knowledge

The author Karl Ove Knausgaard writes on the slowness of literature, adapted from a speech delivered at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2019-11-06 15:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Love, Sex and Atom Bombs in a Debut Novel of the American West

Shannon Pufahl’s “On Swift Horses” weaves an entanglement of attractions in postwar California. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-11-05 10:00:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this