I am so delighted that Mahfud Ikhwan’s touching and funny piece on Indonesia’s vanishing food culture, recently published in my translation with Words Without Borders, was recommended by LitHub’s “Best of the Literary Internet” for today.
Literary Translator's Lab
Last week I had the pleasure of participating in the Literary Translation Lab, a new initiative of Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture, as a guest tutor. The program incorporated lectures, discussions, and workshopping of translations with a select group of fifteen translators. I learned so much from my fellow presenter and tutor Andry Septiawan, both a translator of Japanese and Korean literature and a publisher; fellow mentor, writer and translator Dalih Sembiring; and our moderator, writer and translator Dhianita Pertiwi ; and of course our lovely participants who included accomplished translators, writers, teachers, and scholars.
Women in Translation Reading Series
This Thursday Laksmi Pamuntjak and I will be participating in PEN America’s Women in Translation Reading Series alongside four other writer/translator pairs. We will be reading from The Tale of Mukaburung, one of the stories included in the forthcoming translated anthology The Book of Mating. It’s a rare chance to hear some of the story read both in English and in the original Indonesian!
The Humanities in Translation Prize
I am honored to have been awarded the Humanities in Translation Prize by Northwestern University for The Book of Mating, my translation of Laksmi Pamuntjak’s Kitab Kawin. Every year Northwestern University Press offers the Humanities in Translation Prize to encourage translations of important literary and scholarly works from around the world. The prize specifically seeks to highlight underrepresented voices and experimental literary works from marginalized communities, humanistic scholarship in less frequently translated languages, and important classical texts from non-Western traditions. It was an honor to work with Laksmi to bring this work into English and I look forward to the book’s publication with Northwestern in early 2026.
Conversation with Quill and Canvas Book Club
It was an absolute delight to be able to join a Zoom book event hosted by the Quill and Canvas Bookshop in Gurgaon, India on March 16. with Indonesian author Mahfud Ikhwan. We met to discuss his book, A Dark Tale from Cottonwood Grove, recently out with Speaking Tiger in my translation. People across three continents and three time zones joined in to talk literature, Bollywood, and the creative process behind this phenomenal novel! A lovely group and a lovely conversation.
American Institute for Indonesian Studies-Luce Awards Small Grant
I am honored to be the recipient of a small grant offered through the American Institute for Indonesian Studies and the Henry Luce Foundation. I will use this grant to bring Indonesian Literature to American audiences by translating Eka Kurniawan’s newest novella… and it’s an absolutely fantastic book. I’m thankful for this generosity and support, and simply cannot wait to see this new work in print. Stay tuned!
Jakarta Post's Weekender Recommended Reading
Proud that two authors whose works I have translated, Eka Kurniawan and Ratih Kumala, have been recommended by The Jakarta Post in a select group of best-selling Indonesian authors you should be reading. The entire list is worth a look, also featuring Leila Chudori, Ika Natassa, and Muhidin M. Dahlan.
Words Without Borders Picks Anna and Her Daughter's Partner for Top 5 Fiction Highlights of 2023
Honored that the literature in translation publication Words Without Borders selected a short story by Laksmi Pamuntjak, Anna and Her Daughter’s Partner, to be in their top five “fiction highlights” of this past year! I translated the story, which was published with the magazine in May 2023, as part of Pamuntjak’s larger collection Kitab Kawin (The Book of Mating) about Indonesian women’s experiences of marriage, love, and sex.
Cigarette Girl Available on Netflix
So excited that the adaptation of Ratih Kumala’s Cigarette Girl, which I was lucky to translate for Gramedia in 2015, is now available to watch as a limited series on Netflix! Dian Sastrowardoyo, one of the most exciting actresses working in Indonesia today, brings the main character “Jeng Yah” alive.
The New York Times Recommends Beauty is a Wound
Jhoumana Katib has recommended Beauty is A Wound by Eka Kurniawan in my translation for the Read like the Wind column in the New York Times Magazine, especially for those who like “mouthy elders, postcolonial theory, George Saunders.”
On Judging Team for ALTA's 2022 National Award in Prose
Pleased to announce that, along with esteemed colleagues Suzanne Jill Levine and Arunava Sinha, I am on the team of judges for the American Literary Translator’s Association 2022 Award in Prose. The National Translation Award is “awarded annually in poetry and in prose to literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality.” I love ALTA (and was the lucky and grateful recipient of a Travel Grant to attend the 2014 Conference when I was an emerging translator), so I was honored and pleased to join the effort. My pleasure has been exponentially multiplied by all the fabulous books I get to read, so many of which were already on my wish list. It will be difficult to choose even a longlist from this diverse and impressive group of submissions!
2021 End of Year Book Recommendations
I was happy to recommend a book for Freeman’s year end round up on LitHub, Kitab Kawin by Laksmi Pamuntjak. Always fun to see what other folks have been reading too!
Film Adaptation of Vengeance is Mine Wins Locarno Leopard
Delighted to hear the news that the film adaptation of Eka Kurniawan’s Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, won the Locarno Leopard at the recent film festival. After translating the novel, it was great fun to serve as subtitle editor for the film and experience the story in a whole new way. Congratulations to all involved!
Viet Thanh Nguyen Recommends Beauty is a Wound
In relation to the release of The Committed, a novel which follows up his Pulitzer-winning novel The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen recommends Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty is a Wound as one of six key texts that similarly interrogate the idea of “commitment.” Quite exciting to be recognized by such an esteemed writer and thinker!
Book of Jakarta Out with Comma Press
Happy to share that a new anthology The Book of Jakarta is out with Comma Press. I was honored to translate one of the short stories included, “Grown Up Kids,” by Ziggy Zezsyazeoviennazabrizkie. An excerpt is available on the press’s blog here. You can learn about the story’s origins from the author in a piece about the anthology by the Jakarta Post.
Elemental Productions wins 2020 GAD New Directions Group Award
So exciting to receive the news that Elemental Productions, the ethnographic documentary production company for which I serve as researcher and writer, was awarded the 2020 New Directions Group Award by the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association.
The GAD New Directions Award is offered in two categories—Group and Individual—to recognize work that presents anthropological perspectives to publics beyond the academy across diverse forms of media, with methodological rigor and ethical engagement.
Proud to be a part of this organization and this effort!
The Nation Reviews Kitchen Curse as "Punk Critique of Colonialism"
Very appreciative of the awesome review of Kitchen Curse by Noah Flora for the nation, which provides excellent context for these short stories and reads them in the spirit they were written.
LitHub Puts Beauty is a Wound In Top Ten Translated Books of the Decade
Honored and pleasantly flabbergasted to be included on this list today along with magnificent works I love and admire. I continue to be so thankful I was able to help bring Eka’s amazing novel to English language readers!
Op-Ed on Recent Protests
Eka Kurniawan’s op-ed about the protests in Papua and throughout Indonesia sparked by a racist incident last month is now available in my translation here for the New York Times International.
Jakarta International Literary Festival
I was delighted to be called upon to translate the curatorial comments for the upcoming inaugural Jakarta International Literary Festival offered by Eka Kurniawan, who is a member of the curatorial team. I only wish I could attend, as the festival looks like it has a stellar line up of Indonesian and international speakers and program events. I’m very sad to miss it but hope to go in future years!