AHMAD, IMRAN
Imran Ahmad was born in
Pakistan and grew up in London. At the age of seven, he was severely
traumatised when Michael Swallow pushed in front of him in the school lunch queue
and secured the last plate of fish and chips – leaving Imran no ‘choice’ but a
horrid egg flan. He still feels angry about this.
Too lazy to get the
grades he needed for medical school, he ended up at Stirling University in
Scotland, studying Chemistry, learning about Islam and trying to impress women.
Ultimately he was quite successful in Chemistry and became quite knowledgeable
about Islam as well, but he didn’t impress any women – despite having an Alfa
Romeo and a microwave oven (quite possibly the only privately owned microwave
on campus at that time).
In careers brochures, he
saw people in business suits, travelling and having meetings. (This looked like
fun to him, but he wasn’t sure what the people in suits actually did.) He
persuaded one of those big global companies to hire him and he ended up working
all over the world, including five years living in the United States.
His book, Unimagined — a
Muslim boy meets the West, was selected by three major newspapers (The
Independent, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald) in their ‘books of the
year’ lists, and was the Number One bestseller at the recent Byron Byron
Writers Festival 2009. The Indonesian version will be launched at UWRF 2009.
Imran is a trustee of
British Muslims for Secular Democracy, which opposes the imposition of
theological or regressive cultural values on any individual, group or gender.
ARCANA, PUTU FAJAR
Putu Fajar Arcana was
born in Negara, Bali, in 1965. He used to be the coordinator of Sanggar Minum
Kopi (SMK – Coffee Drinking Workshop), Bali, in the early 90’s, that organised
national poetry writing competitions and regional poetry reading competitions
regularly. While being a jury Putu went around Bali, at the same time promoting
literature in the areas. He was one of the founding fathers of CAK Foundation
Denpasar, that still publishes CAK Journals to this day, and initiated the
establishment of Warung Budaya (Culture Café) in Taman Budaya Denpasar in 1998.
Putu’s won various short
story and poetry writing competitions. In 2002 he was one of the 10 Best Short
Story Writers in a national short story writing competition that was organised
by Bali Post Denpasar. He was also the winner of the National Short Story Writing
Competition that was held in Batu, East Java, in the same year. His poem was
nominated for Borobudur Award in 1996. Besides that, his script for a TV drama
was the best of Ten of the Best in Bali in 1993.
In 2003 one of his short
stories, Waktu Nyala, was included in Kompas’s selection. In the same year, he
published a collection of short stories titled Bunga Jepun and performed The
Short Story Theatre Bunga Jepun in Jakarta and Bandung, with other artists from
Bali and Bandung.
In 2004 his short story,
Sepi pun Menari di Tepi Hari, once again was included in Kompas’s selection.
His second short story collection titled Samsara (2005) was published by
Gramedia Pustaka Utama, and then he published a collection of essays titled
Surat Merah untuk Bali in 2007. His first novel titled Gandamayu: Cinta
Perempuan Terkutuk will be published by Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan
Bahasa.
His solo anthology
titled Bilik Cahaya was published in 1997. Other than that, his poems were also
collected in Mimbar Penyair Abad 21 (1996), Menagerie IV (2000), Bali The
Morning After (2000), Bonsai’s Morning (1996), Teh Ginseng (1993), Dari Negeri
Poci III (1994), Kembang Rampai Puisi Bali (1999), Amsal Sebuah Patung (1996)
and Gelak Esei dan Ombak Sajak (2000). His short story was included in Para
Penari (2002), an anthology .
Today, Putu is working
as a journalist for Kompas in Jakarta. He worked for TEMPO Magazine in Jakarta,
Karya Bhakti Weekly in Denpasar, Nusa Tenggara Daily in Denpasar, and Ekbis
Tabloid Denpasar. His journalism works have won several competitions in Bali.
**
ADNYANA, KOMANG
Komang Adnyana was born
in Klungkung, Bali. He is currently studying English Literature at Udayana
University, Denpasar. He writes short stories published that have been
published in Bali Post, Warta Bali, Suara Pembaruan, Nusa,
Femina and tabloids such as Jelita and Nova,
and Akademika campus magazine. He was the winner of 2005 Balai Bahasa
Denpasar Teenagers’ Short Story Writing Competition, listed in the 13 best
writers of 2005 Suara Mahasiswa Universitas Islam Bandung Press Short Story
Writing Competition, and received Honorable Mention in 2005 and 2006 Femina
Short Story Writing Competition.
AJIDARMA, SENO GUMIRA
Seno Gumira Ajidarma was
born in Boston, USA, in 1958. A son of a respected university professor, Seno
showed a rebellious attitude, wild imagination and a penchant for reading good
books every since his early school days. He was only 17 years of age when his
poems were published by Horison, a prestigious literary journal. His works
reflect the undying rebel within his heart, tackling, among other themes,
political oppression and state-sponsored violence, a dangerous taboo during the
New Order regime. His works include Saksi Mata, Manusia
Kamar and Penembak Misterius. He was awarded the SEA Write Award,
Dinny O’ Hearn Literary Prize and the Khatulistiwa Award in two
consecutive years; 2004 and 2005. Besides being an influential writer, Seno is
also an accomplished photographer.
ALKATIRI, ZEFFRY
Zeffry Alkatiri is a
Lecturer and Researcher in the Social Sciences Faculty at Universitas
Indonesia, and holds a Doctorate Degree from the Faculty of Humanities there
(2006). In 2001, his book of poetry From Batavia until Jakarta
1619-1999 received First Award from Jakarta Council of Arts and in 2002 it
received Best Poetry Book award from the Foundation of Primary Books,
Jakarta. His other works of poetry include When Will Come Back Jaap?
(Bilingual, 2003), Notes from a Hadrami’s Journey (2004). He participated
in a number of international poetry festivals, including Festival Winternachten
(Utan Kayu, 2000), Festival Winternachten (Den Haag, 2002), Poetry
International (Solo, 2003), and Festival Winternachten (Den Haag, 2006).
His poems have been translated into English, Dutch, Portugeuse, French, and
Chinese.
ALLEN, PAM
Pam Allen teaches
Indonesian language and literature at the University of Tasmania, and is a
literary translator from Indonesian to English. The literary culture of
Indonesia first took hold of her more than thirty years ago when she was a
19-year old undergraduate.
ALLISAH, DOEL CP
Doel CP Allisah was
born in Banda Aceh. A former journalist and television reporter for various
Indonesian and Malaysian media, Doel is now active as a book editor. In 2006 –
2008, Doel edited 16 books by Acehnese writers and literary figures. His poetry
anthologies are titled Song of the Wind (1992) and The Sadness
Song (2007). His work has also appeared in several other anthologies
published in Indonesia. He is currently coordinator for the Aceh Literary
Alliance (ASA)
AMERESEKERE, ASITHA
Asitha is a British-Sri
Lankan writer and filmmaker living in London. He was brainwashed by Greek myth
at an early age and has attempted to tell stories ever since. Educated in Sri
Lanka and London, he read Classics at Bristol University and received a
master’s degree in Film & Theatre Directing from the California Institute
of the Arts.
His films have been
screened and won awards internationally, including a BAFTA in 2007 for ‘Do Not
Erase’ and a 2009 European Film Award nomination for ‘14’. A collection of his
short stories, Wedding Gifts and Other Presents,was published in 2008 in
Sri Lanka and he is currently developing two feature film scripts and a
novella.
AMRIN, AHMAD MUCHLISH
Ahmad Muchlish Amrin was
born in Candi Dungkek Sumenep, a small village in eastern Madura. He
writes poetry, short stories, and essays. His works have been published in
local and national media, and in anthologies. In 2005, he received an
award recognising his work from the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and in 2006
from the Ministry of Education’s Center of Language. He currently resides
in Yogyakarta.
ANWAR, DESI
Desi Anwar is currently
Metro TV’s senior anchor, and is founder and editor of the online magazine The
Daily Avocado. She has published a book of photography and writings on her
travels called ‘A Romantic Journey.
BARLEY, NIGEL
Nigel Barley is the
author of ten books with Penguin, Time Warner and Little,Brown. With a PhD in
Anthropology from Oxford University, he worked for many years at the
Ethnography Department of the British Museum and it was in this connection that
he first travelled to Southeast Asia. After forays into Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore, Japan and Burma, Barley settled on Indonesia as his principal
research interest and has worked on both the history and contemporary culture
of that area for years.
BHUTTO, FATIMA
Fatima Bhutto is a
journalist and writer, born in Kabul in 1982. Her father was Murtaza Bhutto,
who was killed by police in 1996 in Karachi during the premiership of his
sister, Benazir Bhutto. Fatima’s third book, a history of the Bhutto family,
will be published in the UK by Jonathan Cape in 2010.
BUDIANTA, MELANI
Respected literary
critic Melani Budianta is a lecturer of the Faculty of Letters, University of
Indonesia. She has conducted various researches in post-colonial theory, gender
and cultural studies, and has published in Indonesia as well as international
scholarly journals. She received her Ph.D. in English Language and Literature
from Cornell University in 1992.
CAHILL, MICHELLE
Michelle edited the
transnational anthology Poetry Without Borders (Picaro, 2008). With
Boey Kim Cheng, she co-founded and co-edits the on-line Asian-Australian
literary journal Mascara. She has edited and mentored many emerging
writers and taught writing workshops in Sydney and Canberra. Her work has
appeared in Muse India, Seva Bharati Journal of English Studies, Drunken
Boat, Asia Literary Review, Heat, Meanjin, Southerly, and Quarterly
Literary Review Singapore. A recipient of grants and fellowships from the
Australian Poetry Centre, the CAL and ASA, she has read at the 2008 Sydney
Writers’ Festival, the 2009 Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival and
the 2009 Mildura Writers’ Festival.
Her forthcoming
collection, Vishvarupa, is themed around Hindu deitites. Riding
Without Krishna is her fiction manuscript in progress. This year Michelle
directed Metaphors of Space, a poetry and architecture event at the Sydney
Writers’ Festival. Michelle has sojourned in monasteries and ashrams in
Thailand, Laos, India, Nepal and Bali, to practice yoga and vipassana
meditation.
CALVANI, MARCO
Born in 1980, the
Italian playwright director and actor Marco Calvani has achieved great success
in Europe. His first play Quasi (2002) was commissioned by the European Social
Forum. Other works include: Before you fall asleep commissioned by the Todi
Festival of 2004 and Low Life (2005) selected as Italy’s contribution for the
European project Citizens on Stage promoted by the Phoenix Theatre of London.
In 2006 he wrote the acclaimed Strong Hands. Based on a sensational crime that
fascinated and appalled the Italian nation, it was performed by Calvani himself
and Elisa Alessandro and hailed as “…one of the most important works of our
contemporary theatre today”. The Spanish version of the play opened Barcelona’s
Festival Grec in 2007.
His play Oil, a ruthless
and ironic journey into the world of television and power, had its première in
Milan in October 2008 and is currently touring Italy. Calvani is also the
director.
In 2008 he was a guest
of La MaMa (New York) at their 2nd International Playwrights Retreat.
This year, 2009, he has
written and is directing The City Beneath, a complex portrait of the culture
clash between civilizations. The play was presented to sell-out audiences in
New York, translated into English by Bing Taylor. This winter the play will
have its French debut.
In December his newest
play Penelope in Groznyj, a rewriting of Homer’s myth of Odysseus transferred
to the Chechnya of today, will have its debut at the Art House Tacheles in
Berlin.
His plays have been
translated into Spanish, English, French, German, Dutch and Polish.
As an actor Calvani has
appeared in the films of Fernan Ozpetek (Le Fate Ignoranti), Giovanni Veronesi
(Manuale d’Amore) and Anna Negri (Riprendimi) and in the hit drama series
Grandi Domani. He currently lives in Rome.
CHO, TOM
Based in Melbourne,
Australia, Tom Cho is the author of the fiction collection Look Who’s
Morphing, published by Giramondo in April this year.
Influenced by the young
adult book series Sweet Valley High, Tom began writing fiction in his
mid-teens. His stories have appeared in publications in various countries, with
more recent pieces published in Asia Literary Review and the Best Australian
Stories series. Tom has also performed at events and festivals around
Australia, including in the award-winning show Hello Kitty, which combined
literature with power ballads. He is also currently completing a doctorate in
Professional Writing at Deakin University.
In addition to writing
fiction, Tom works as a freelance writer/editor. He has also worked in
programming roles for various arts organisations in Australia, including
Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne Fringe and National Young Writers’
Festival.
CUTLER, SAM
Sam Cutler was Tour
Manager for the Rolling Stones on their infamous American Tour in 1969. He then
went on to work with the legendary Grateful Dead. He also worked with Janis Joplin,
Jimi Hendrix, The Band, Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton. He has lived “the ultimate
rock and roll dream” survived the experience and written an exhilarating,
access-all-areas rock memoir from the point of view of someone who has seen –
and done – it all.
CAFFIN, JENI
Jeni Caffin is the
Director of the Norther Rivers Writers’ Centre and Byron Bay Writers Festival,
based in Australia’s northern New South Wales.
COUTEAU, JEAN
Dr Jean Couteau (64) is
a French writer living in Bali who publishes extensively on a large variety of
topics in French, English and Indonesian. He is mainly known in Indonesia for
his essays and his writings on the arts, with books such as “Museum Puri
Lukisan” (2000), “Srihadi Soedarsono: The Path of the Soul” (Lontar 2003) and “Calligraphy
Wianta” (2005). He recently published a collection of short stories called
“Bali Today” volume I (2005) and II (2008) and the second volume of the
three-volume book “Affandi”(2007), made on the occasion of the great painter’s
100 birthday. Dr Jean Couteau is presently senior editor of the international
art magazine C-Arts.
DARLING, DIANA
Diana Darling is a
freelance writer and editor. She is the author of The Painted
Alphabet (1992), a novel based on a Balinese tale and a former
editor-in-chief of Latitudes magazine, and has published numerous
essays on Balinese society. She was born in the United States and moved to
Europe in 1973, where she lived in Italy and Paris carrying out independent
work as a sculptor. She has lived in Bali since 1980 and is married to A.A.
Alit Ardi of Ubud. She is currently working on a Miscellany of Bali and a novel
about the history of tourism in Bali.
DINI, NH
NH Dini was born in 1936
in Semarang, Central Java, and spent a decade of her adult life traveling to various
parts of the world as the air-stewardess for the national flag-carrier Garuda
Indonesia. The job gave her a profound experience on the diverse ways of the
world, which give her literary works a deep and unique nuance. She is one of a
few female Indonesian authors who writes about social, cultural and political
injustices suffered by the country’s women, thus,bringing the awareness on
gender equality to the center stage. She penned more than 20 books, including
Dua Dunia, Pada Sebuah Kapal, La Barka and Namaku Hiroko. Dini was awarded
the SEA Write Award by the government of Thailand and Best Literary Award from
the Ministry of National Education. Currently, she lives in Semarang.
DJAKABABA, NELDEN
Nelden Djakababa is a
psychologist focusing on trauma recovery and culture. While working for the
Pulih Foundation and managing her family’s businesses in Jakarta and Sumba, she
nurtures her life-long passion for creative writing by writing short stories
and poetry, which have appeared in various Indonesian newspapers and magazines.
She also writes reviews of books and films, and psychology-related articles.
She plans to publish her first book of short stories in 2010 while writing her
PhD dissertation at the University of Amsterdam on post-traumatic growth.
DJOKOSETIO, JACOBUS
Jacky Djokosetio was a
pioneer in adventure travel in Indonesia. An avid mountaineer, his love of his
country’s nature inspired him to write Indonesia’s first international-standard
bilingual guidebook showcasing one of its highlights, Gede-Pangrango National
Park.
DOVER, BRUCE
Bruce Dover has more
than twenty-five years experience in Australian and international media. An
award-winning foreign correspondent, he is a former deputy editor of The
Australian newspaper and founding editor of Business Asiamagazine.
In China, he served
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation initially as head of business development,
and later as Vice President (China), from 1992–99, returning to Sydney to head
News Limited’s online division, News Interactive. In 2000 he joined CNN
International as Managing Editor (Asia), overseeing the network’s television
and internet operations across the Asia Pacific. He was appointed Chief
Executive of ABC TV’s Australia Network in 2007. His book,Rupert’s Adventures
in China was published this year, and has been shortlisted for the Blake
Dawson Literary Award for Business Literature.
EZ ELDIN, MANSOURA
Mansoura Ez Eldin was
born in 1976 in a small village in Delta Egypt, and graduated in journalism
from Cairo University in 1998. She started publishing her short stories in the
Arab press when she was just 21, and a collection Dhaw’a
Muhtaz [Flickering Light] was published in Cairo in 2001. She has worked
in Egyptian television, and presently runs the book review section of the
renowned Egyptian literary magazine Akhbar al-Adab [Literature News].
Her successful debut
novel Maryam’s Maze was published by the award-winning Merit
publishers in 2004, with the English edition published by AUC Press, Cairo. Her
second novel Behind Paradise is due to be out in June 2009.
Mansoura Ez Eldin is considered by many critics to be one of the most promising authors of a vibrant new generation of Egyptian writers. Maryam’s Maze was praised for being ‘avant-garde’, ‘bold, experimental writing’ and an ‘eerily gothic tale reminiscent of Poe or Palahniuk’.
Mansoura Ez Eldin is considered by many critics to be one of the most promising authors of a vibrant new generation of Egyptian writers. Maryam’s Maze was praised for being ‘avant-garde’, ‘bold, experimental writing’ and an ‘eerily gothic tale reminiscent of Poe or Palahniuk’.
As a writer she is
fascinated by the relation between dreams and reality, between the world of
fantasy and the real world. But she is not fond of the exotic for its own sake.
The exotic for her is a tool to help her approach the real. It is not a device
to run away from reality but to come closer to it. A way to analyze it and
tackle it and engage with it. She believes that the fantastical is part of
reality as much as dreams are.
EDDINGTON, JILL
Jill Eddington has
worked in the creative industries for 30 years. Jill currently consults to
government, corporate and not for profit arts and cultural organisations in
evaluation, project and strategic development.
FARID, LILY YULIANTI
Journalist and
short-story writer Lily Yulianti Farid has won numerous writing awards since
her third year of high school and established online citizen journalism portal
www.panyingkul.com. Her anthology, Makkunrai, and 10 other women’s
stories address current issues in Indonesia such as separation, loss, polygamy
and the commercialization of education.
FLINT, SHAMINI
Shamini Flint began her
career in law in Malaysia and also worked at an international law firm in
Singapore. She traveled extensively around Asia for her work, before resigning
to be a stay-at-home mum, writer, part-time lecturer and environmental
activist, all in an effort to make up for her ‘evil’ past as a corporate
lawyer!
Her Inspector Singh
novels are published by Little, Brown and have been translated into numerous
languages. Titles include Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar
Malaysian Murder, Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul (to
be launched at Ubud 2009) and Inspector Singh Investigates: A Singapore School
of Villainy (Feb 2010). “It’s impossible not to warm to the portly, sweating,
dishevelled, wheezing Inspector Singh …” – The Guardian.
Shamini also writes
children’s books with cultural and environmental themes including The Seeds of
Time, an environmental fantasy and Ten, a tale of growing up and football
(which has been selected to be used as part of the Singapore Ministry of
Education’s STELLAR programme.)
Her Sasha travel series
(the Rough Guide for the under-6s!) series of children’s picture books have
been enjoyed by armchair travellers all over Asia. Other popular picture books
include Jungle Blues and Turtle takes a Trip, which feature endangered Asian
species and delightful rhyming text. Part of the proceeds from sale of the
environmental titles is donated to the World Wide Fund for Nature. Her latest
picture book, in collaboration with award-winning Australian illustrator, Craig
Smith, is Three Stars.
FLOWERS, ARTHUR
Arthur Flowers, Memphis
native, is author of 2 novels, Another Good Loving Blues and De
Mojo Blues and creative nonfiction, Mojo Rising, Confessions of a
21st Century Conjureman. He is a performance poet in the griotic school of
African American literature and a practitioner of literary hoodoo. He is a
founding member of New Renaissance Writers Guild and the Pan African Literary
Forum and teaches MFA Fiction at Syracuse Univ.
FITZPATRICK, STEPHEN
Stephen Fitzpatrick is
Jakarta correspondent for the Australian newspaper where he has written
extensively about Indonesian culture, politics, social change and natural and
other disasters. He is interested in history but does not plan to write a
memoir.
GIDOOMAL, SHALINI
Shalini Gidoomal is a
freelance journalist, writer, businesswoman and inveterate traveller, born, and
currently living in Nairobi. She has worked on various UK and international
magazines and newspapers, including The Independent, News of the World, Sunday
Mirror, Today, FHM, GQ and Architectural Digest. In Kenya, she has written for
the East African, Travel News, The Standard, Care International and Camerapix.
Her short stories and non- fiction have been published in various Caine Prize
anthologies, in collections of African short stories, and in the Kenyan journal
Kwani.
In between writing jobs
she has worked in a UK prison charity, and set up a fair trade business making
fashion accessories and training Kenyans in export design and quality control.
Currently Shalini is editorial co-ordinator for the Generation Kenya 45
project, deputy treasurer for Pen Kenya, festival director of the recently held
Kwani Litfest 2008 and the upcoming Baharini festival. She is founder of the
innovative Revisioning Kenya forums, and vice-chair of the private sector board
for Heritage and Culture. She is determined to resume work on a novel
GRACIA, PEDRO ANGEL
PALOU
Pedro Ángel Palou, a
Mexican writer, is the author of more than 30 books, including novels, short
stories and essays. He has won many prizes, including the Xavier Villaurrutia
for Con la Muerte en Los Puños (2003), and was the finalist of the
Planeta-Casamerica (2004) for El Dinero del Diablo, published in 22
Spanish speaking countries. In 1998 he was awarded the National History Prize
Francisco Xavier Clavigero.
He is a former chef,
politician, soccer referee, and now journalist and TV broadcaster (Canal 22 and
History Channel). Pedro has a PH.D. in Social Sciences and has been president
of the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, and was appointed as Cultural
Secretary and Director of the Writers School of the SOGEM (Mexican Authors
Guild).
GASTIN, ANNIE
Her voice has taken her
many places in life – from singing at smoky jazz clubs as sultry chanteuse – to
performing a one-woman show about angst in the tropics and now to riding the
radio airwaves each weekday morning on ABC in Australia.
HANIF, MOHAMMED
Mohammed Hanif is a
Pakistani writer and journalist. He was born at Okara. He was graduated from
Pakistan Air Force Academy as a pilot officer but subsequently left to pursue a
career in journalism. He initially worked for Newsline, The Washington Post and
India Today. In 1996, he moved to London to work for the BBC. Later, he became
the head of the BBC’s Urdu service in London. urrently he works as a special
correspondent based in Karachi.
His first novel A
Case of Exploding Mangoes is being translated into 17 language. Mangoes
was longlisted for the Man Booker prize, shortlisted for The Guardian First
Book Award, short listed for James Tait Black Memorial awars and won the
inagural Shakti Bhatt Award, and Commonwealth Best First Book Award.
HARTATI, DIAN
Dian Hartati was born in
Bandung, in 1983. She loves travelling and drowning herself in the
wonders of words. She is intensively writing and publishing poems. Some
of her poems have been compiled in collective anthologies, such as :Di Atas
Viaduct, Bumi Nangroe Tsunami Aceh, Antologi Puisi Berbahasa Daerah, Tangga
Menuju Langit, Kenduri Puisi: Buah Hati untuk Diah Hadaning, IBUMI, Komposisi
Sunyi, Herbarium, 142 Penyair Menuju Bulan, Kolaborasi Nusantara dari Banjarbaru,
Jogya 5,9 skala Richter, Anthologi Empati Yogya, Roh and Dian Sastro
for President! # 2 Reloaded. She has also published two collections of her own
works: Nyalindung and Cerita Tentang Daun.
HARTNETT, SONYA
Sonya Hartnett is the
internationally acclaimed author of several novels, including Thursday’s Child,
Forest, Of a Boy, The Silver Donkey and Surrender. Her latest
novel Butterfly was released in February this year.
In 2008 Sonya was the recipient of The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the largest children’s book prize in the world. It is the first time this award has gone to an Australian.
In 2008 Sonya was the recipient of The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the largest children’s book prize in the world. It is the first time this award has gone to an Australian.
Some of the many other
awards Sonya has won include the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the
Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year: Older Readers, The Age
Book of the Year and the CBC Book of the Year (Young readers).
HASSAN, RIAZ
Riaz Hassan is
Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow and Emeritus Professor in the
Department of Sociology, Flinders University in Adelaide. He has conducted
research in a number of areas including sociology of housing, sociology of
suicide and Muslim societies. The findings from his 10 year multi-country study
of Muslim religiosity which explored key aspects of Islamic consciousness have
been published in Inside Muslim Minds (Melbourne University Press
2008) and Faithlines: Muslim Conceptions of Islam and Society (Oxford
University Press 2003).
He is now conducting
research into the causes of the global rise of suicide terrorism. His other
publications include:Singapore: Society in Transition, ed. (Oxford University
Press); Families in Flats (Singapore University Press); A Way of
Dying (Oxford University Press); Suicide Explained: The Australian
Experience (Melbourne University Press); The Cambridge Handbook of
Social Sciences in Australia, co-editor with Ian McAllister and S. Dowrick
(Cambridge University Press); Local and Global: Social Transformation in
Southeast Asia (Brill). (see riazhassan.com for his other publications).
He has taught at the
Flinders University, National University of Singapore, Gadjah Mada University,
Indonesia, University of California Los Angeles and Yale University. He is a
Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
HILLMAN, ROBERT
Robert Hillman is a
Melbourne-based writer of fiction and biography. His most recent
biography, My Life as a Traitor, written with Zarha Ghahramani, came out
in 2007 and will appear in numerous overseas editions this year. His 2004
autobiography, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the Australian National
Biography Award for 2005.
His collaboration with
Najaf Mazari on The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif grew out of an abiding
interest in the hardships and triumphs of refugees. He has a particular empathy
for and interest in Middle Eastern and Central Asian peoples and cultures,
having travelled and worked in a number of countries of that grew out of an
abiding interest in the hardships and triumphs of refugees. He has a particular
empathy for and interest in Middle Eastern and Central Asian peoples and
cultures, having travelled and worked in a number of countries of that region.
HOFFMAN, LINDA
For 20 years Linda
Hoffman’s writings and photographs on Indonesia’s remote destinations have
graced international guidebooks, travel magazines and feature articles. Her
collaboration on Gede-Pangrango National Park strives to promote responsible
tourism in Indonesia.
HOLMES, VIKI
Viki Holmes is a widely
anthologised and prize-winning British poet and performer who began her writing
career in Cardiff as part of the Happy Demon poetry collective. She has been
living and writing in Hong Kong since 2005. Her poetry has appeared in literary
magazines and anthologies in Wales, England, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada,
Macao and Singapore. She was twice a finalist in the John Tripp Award for
spoken Poetry (Wales), and was a runner-up in Hong Kong’s inaugural Poetry
Slam. Her first collection, miss moon’s class is published by
Chameleon Press (Hong Kong) and she is co-editor of the Haven (Hong Kong) anthology
of world women’s writing Not A Muse.
HANLEY, CHRIS
Chris Hanley is the
founder and chair of the Byron Bay Writers Festival in northern NSW, Australia.
Chris is a businessman with a love of writing and a published author of short
stories. Ubud is his second favourite writers festival.
JACOBS, RAHUL
“Rahul Jacobs is a
writer for the Financial Times.”
JERINX
I always loved music,
poetry and custom culture. I started playing guitar and reading poetry at age
15, playing drum at 17 and singing/writing songs at age 20. Started getting
tattoed at age 17, my high school year was a rock n roll year.
With Bobby Kool and Eka
Rock, we formed Superman Is Dead in 1995, we recorded 3 albums independently
and 4 albums through major label and we signed up with Sony Music Indonesia
since 2003. With our Do It Yourself work ethic, we have toured Australia in
2007 [16 shows] and USA in 2009 [16 shows including 11 dates in Warped Tour]
We are the first
punkrock band that signed up with major label in Indonesia, we are the first
Indonesian bands that made it to the international festivals in the USA and we
are the first Balinese band that is actually known nationally.
I have a thing for
1950’s era. The cars, the clothes, the hair, the art, I love everything from
the fifties and sometime I think of myself as todays version of Elvis from
hell.
I really respect
Balinese culture even though I often found myself more of an outsider of the
Balinese traditional society. My love for Bali is unreplaceable and even though
I am the part of the counter culture, I always try in my own way to bring
positive impact to this island.
Beside the band, I run a
few other thing that is not too far from my passion: a tattoo shop, a rock bar,
a clothing store and -soon- a 1950*s style diner.
In my free time I
drowned myself into my loved ones, movies, books, surfing, writings, riding my
lowrider bicyle and drinking beers.
JACOBS, LAURAINE
Lauraine Jacobs has
written for Cuisine, New Zealand’s leading glossy food magazine, for over
twenty years. Currently Cuisine’s Food Editor and chief judge of the magazine’s
national restaurant competition, she is well respected at home and abroad for
her knowledge of food, wine and restaurant trends.
Author of several
cookbooks including the internationally awarded winning ‘Baker’ and ‘Taste –
The Flavours of Baking’, co-authored with Dean Brettschneider, both of which
won Gold Ladles at the World Food Media Awards, she released ‘The Confident
Cook’ (Random House NZ) a collection of her best recipes in 2006, and most
recently ‘Matakana’ (Random House 2008).
Lauraine served as
president of the USA-based International Association of Culinary Professionals
in 2002/2003, and was a member of the New Zealand Government Food and Beverage
Taskforce 2006/2007. In 2009 she was awarded an MNZM in the NZ Queen’s Birthday
Honours for services to the food industry.
Lauraine resides in
Auckland, New Zealand, and is passionate about her leisure pursuits, cooking,
wine and golf.
JAMES, JAMIE
Jamie James left his
post as a staff critic in 1999 and moved ot Bali to concentrate on writing
about Asia. Since then, he has published 2 novels, Andrew & Joey: a
Tale of Bali and The Java Man. In 2008 he published his 7th
book The Snake Charmer, a biography of the American herpetologist Joe
Slowinski.
JONES, LLOYD
Lloyd Jones is a
Wellington-based writer with a number of novels to his name
including Mister Pip (winner of the Commonwealth Prize in 2007, the
Kiriyama Pacific Prize 2008, shortlisted for the Booker Prize) The Book of
Fame(winner of the Deutz Prize) and Here at the end of the world we learn
to dance and Biografi. Most recently a selection of his
stories, The Man in the Shed, were published.
JOSHI, SUSHMA
Sushma Joshi is a writer
and filmmaker from Nepal. She is a graduate of Brown University. Her book “End
of the World” was longlisted for the Frank O Connor award.
JUNIARTHA, I WAYAN
Wayan Ju is the Bali’s
chief correspondent of The Jakarta Post and writes a weekly column for the
local Bali Post. His book Bungklang Bungkling mocks the paradoxes of
modern Bali.
KUNZRU, HARI
Hari Kunzru is the
author of the novels The
Impressionist (2002), Transmission (2004) and My
Revolutions (2007), as well as a short story
collection, Noise (2006). His work has been translated into
twenty-one languages and won him prizes including the Somerset Maugham award,
the Betty Trask prize of the Society of Authors and a British Book Award. In
2003, Granta named him one of its twenty best young British novelists. Lire
magazine named him one of its 50 “écrivains pour demain”. He is Deputy
President of English PEN, a patron of the Refugee Council and a member of the
editorial board of Mute magazine. His short stories and journalism have
appeared in diverse publications including The New York Times, Guardian, New Yorker,
Washington Post, Times of India, Wired and New Statesman.
KENIGSBERG, SHELLEY
Shelley Kenigsberg has
worked in publishing for over 20 years; she works as a mentor and
developmental, structural and copy editor in a range of genres and has led long
and short courses for editors, writers, language institutes, private
corporations and at literary festivals in Australia, Indonesia, Japan and South
Africa. She is currently writing a/her first book.
KURNIA, ANTON
Anton Kurnia, from
Bandung, is a short story writer, essayist, translator and editor. His
published books are Insomnia(short story collection, 2004), A World
Without Memory: Literature, Books, and Power (essay collection, 2004),
andThe Encyclopedia of World Literature (2006). Some of his short stories
have been translated into English, and one was published in the anthology of
Indonesian literature Menagerie 5 (2003). He has
translated Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, 2008) and many other
foreign literary works into Indonesian, and has edited the Indonesian editions
of My Name Is Red (Orhan Pamuk, 2006) and The True History of
the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey, 2006). Currently he also works as Editor in
Chief of Serambi Publisher, Jakarta.
KRISHNA, KADEK
Born in Bali in 1979,
and raised multi-lingual, Kadek Krishna Adidharma is a translator, interpreter,
environmental consultant, curator and writer. Walking Home, his column in the
Jakarta Post discussed his adaptation to returning to Indonesia after nine
years living overseas. His translations have been published alongside the
original in bilingual editions of Against All Odds by Idanna Pucci, The Art of
Learning by Doing by Sarita Newson and TERRA, an anthology of writing from
WordStorm, the Northern Territory Writers’ Festival.
LACUESTA, ANGELO
Angelo R. Lacuesta has
won the Palanca, Philippine Graphic and NVM Gonzalez Awards for his short
fiction. His first book, Life Before X and Other Stories, won the
Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award and the National Book Award in 2000.
His second collection, White Elephants: stories, won the National Book
Award in 2005. He has recently published a third collection, Flames and other
stories, and is at work on his first novel.
LAFERRIÈRE, DANY
Dany Laferrière was born
in Port-au-Prince in 1953 and grew up in Petit-Goâve. A self-styled “citoyen de
l’Amérique,” he lives in Montreal, New York and Miami. He has published nearly
twenty books, including Comment faire l’amour avec un nègre sans se
fatiguer, Vers le sud, Je suis un écrivain japonais, and an illustrated
book, Je suis fou de Vava,which won the 2006 Governor General’s Award for
children’s lit. He is also a journalist and cultural columnist. He has scripted
several feature films, mostly adaptations of his own novels.
LAMBADA, SHOES
Shoes Lambada is a
Zimbabwean poet who writes and performs in English, Shona and Tonga. He has
performed in Africa and Asia. He is also the co-founder of Zimbabwe Poets
for Human Rights.
LANE, MAX
Max Lane is author
of Unfinished Nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto (VERSO 2008)
as well as translator of works by Pramoedya Ananta Toer and W.S. Rendra. He has
translated five novels and one non-fiction book by Pramoedya, including
the Buru Tetralogy novels. His translations of Rendra include The
Struggle of the Naga Tribe.
He has written more than
500 articles on Indonesia for newspapers such as Green Left
Weekly (1990-2007) andDirect Action (2008-2009) as well
as Inside Indonesia (up until 2005), Jakarta Post and
several Australian daily newspapers.
He has held academic
positions at Murdoch University, Sydney University and the National University
of Singapore and has presented guest lectures at many universities in the
United States and Europe.He was National Coordinator of Action in Solidarity
with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) through the 1990s and now is consultant
to the website www.asia-pacific-solidarity.net
LEE SU KIM
Lee Su Kim is the author
of eight books including two bestsellers, Malaysian Flavours: Insights
into Things Malaysian(Pelanduk Publications, 2004) and Manglish: Malaysian
English at its Wackiest (Times International, 1998). Her latest book, A
Nyonya In Texas: Insights of a Straits Chinese Woman in the Lone Star
State ( Marshall Cavendish, Singapore, 2007), is a hilarious account of cross-cultural
encounters between East and West. It has been translated into Bahasa Indonesia.
Her books have struck a
chord with Malaysians and an international readership who desire to read
stories and life experiences from this region. Her latest book ‘A Nyonya In
Texas: Insights of a Straits Chinese Woman in the Lone Star State’ transcends
East-West boundaries with hilarious tales of an Asian woman writer living in
the United States of America.
Su Kim is Associate
Professor of English at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Born in Kuala Lumpur, she obtained a Bachelor
of Arts degree in English and Masters in Education from the University of
Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. She lived in Texas for four years, where she obtained a
Doctorate in Education from the University of Houston.
Su Kim is of Straits
Chinese ( Peranakan) parentage. She is a founder member and the first woman
President of the Peranakan Baba Nyonya Association of Kuala Lumpur &
Selangor. She was a previous newspaper columnist with The Star, a leading
English newspaper daily for three years. She is currently writing a collection
of short stories. She enjoys creative writing, travelling, cultures and
cuisine.
LEIGH, JULIA
Julia Leigh lives in
Sydney. Her chilling novella Disquiet was first published in 2008
with translations pending world-wide in 2009. Her debut novel, The Hunter, was
a literary sensation at home and abroad. Julia was named one of the twenty-one
writers to watch in the 21st century by The Observer (UK).
Disquiet has been
sold all around the world and received remarkable international critical
acclaim. In the US it was named number seven on the Top Ten Fiction Books of
the Year by Entertainment Weekly.
LESTER, ALISON
Alison Lester was born
on the 17/11/1952 at Foster in Victoria, Australia. She grew up on a farm
overlooking the sea and first rode a horse as a baby in her father’s arms. She
still lives in the country and rides her horse whenever she can.
Her picture books mix
imaginary worlds with everyday life, encouraging children to believe in
themselves and celebrate the differences that make them special.
Alison lives and works
at Nar Nar Goon North in West Gippsland.
She spends part of every year travelling to schools in remote areas, using her books to help children and adults write and draw about their own lives.
She spends part of every year travelling to schools in remote areas, using her books to help children and adults write and draw about their own lives.
LOCHAN, AMARJIVA
Amarjiva Lochan
graduated from the University of Delhi, India and now teaches there on the
History and Culture of India with special reference to the Indic elements in
Southeast Asia. He is the editor of two international journals (the SSEASR
Journal and the Sanskrit Studies Journal, Bangkok), and writes on, among other
things, the syncretic nature of the religions in Southeast Asia and the role of
Brahmin priets in Thailand. Dr Amarjiva has traveled widely both in the region
and all over the globe. At present, he is the President, SSEASR (South and
Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culutre and Religion), an academic
body under the UNESCO, looking after the acdemic interests of the scholars on
culture and religion from Afghanistan to Timor-Leste.
LOEWENSTEIN, ANTONY
Antony Loewenstein is a
Sydney-based independent freelance journalist, author and blogger. He has
written for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Guardian, Juan Cole,
Washington Post, Dawn, Haaretz, The Nation, Adbusters, Sydney’s Sun-Herald, The
Australian Financial Review, Melbourne’s Age, Brisbane’s Courier Mail, ABC
Unleashed, Amnesty International Australia, Adelaide’s Advertiser, The
Bulletin, Znet, Overland, The Big Issue, Counterpunch and many others.
Antony contributed a major chapter to 2004’s best-seller, Not Happy,
John! on the Hanan Ashrawi affair. His best-selling book on the
Israel/Palestine conflict, My Israel Question, was released by Melbourne
University Publishing in 2006. A new, updated edition was released in 2007 (and
reprinted again in 2008). The book was short-listed for the 2007 NSW Premier’s
Literary Award. He was a contributor to the 2008 Verso Books release, A
Time to Speak Out: On Israel, Zionism and Jewish Identity. His second
book, The Blogging Revolution, on the internet in repressive regimes, was
released in 2008 by Melbourne University Publishing.
He writes regularly for
online magazines New Matilda and Crikey and is a board
member of Macquarie University’s Centre for Middle East and North African
Studies. He is an Honorary Associate at Macquarie University’s Department of
Politics and International Relations. He is the co-founder of advocacy group
Independent Australian Jewish Voices and contributed to Amnesty International
Australia’s 2008 campaign about Chinese internet repression and the Beijing
Olympic Games. Antony appears regularly around the world on radio, TV
(including Democracy Now!), in public and at universities (including Harvard)
discussing current affairs, politics and media.
MEYER, ANGELA
Angela Meyer writer the
Crikey blog LiteraryMinded, featuring book reviews, author interviews and
personalised, passionate literary musings. Her fiction, reviews and interviews
have appeared in Hecate, The Death Mook, Wet Ink, Idiom 23, Page Seventeen,
Southerly, Lip, Cordite, Mascara, Through the Clock’s Workings (the Remix My
Lit anthology) and many others. Her day job is to write about upcoming books
for Australian book trade magazine Bookseller+Publisher, in Melbourne. She is
currently working on longer, novel-length projects, and more short fiction,
predominantly with themes of consumerism, materialism, technology, and gender
roles in contemporary society http://blogs.crikey.com.au/literaryminded
MABWE, MICHAEL
Michael Mabwe is a human
rights activist who uses the arts especially poetry as a weapon of mass
instruction. Born in the dusty mining town of Kadoma where he attained both
primary and secondary education moved to Masvingo for his University education
before moving to Harare. He was instrumental in steering growth of Slam poetry
in Zimbabwe taking charge of the House of Hunger Poetry slam through which he
helped to start poetry slams such as Echoes from the Caves, Spirit of Great
Zimbabwe as well as Mlomo wako in Chinhoyi, Masvingo and Bulawayo respectively.
Michael Mabwe is the
Founder and Coordinator of the Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights (ZPHR)
which advocates for the recognition, respect and restoration of human rights in
Zimbabwe. Michael’s poetry touches on issues such as HIV and AIDS, gender,
poverty, politics, black consciousness and tolerance. He has worked with numerous
local organisations and has been to conferences were he performed in the United
States of America, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and is looking forward to
performing in Netherlands and Fiji this year.
MACKENZIE, JENNIFER
Jennifer Mackenzie was
born in Melbourne, Australia, and went to the University of Melbourne, where
she had the good fortune to be taught by Vincent Buckley and Chris
Wallace-Crabbe. She began writing and publishing poetry at that time. The first
of many visits to Borobudur took place in 1975, when the candi was undergoing
restoration. This visit led to a longstanding interest in Asia, resulting in
subsequent travel to India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and Cambodia.
The Borobudur project
began while traveling in Java on a Marten Bequest scholarship. Back in
Australia, she undertook writing and research while living in the Yarra Valley,
east of Melbourne. With further help from the Felix Meyer Scholarship from the
University of Melbourne, she was able to undertake further travel and research,
including language studies at Universitas Gajah Mada. At this stage, Borobudur
spent several years in a drawer while she completed a Masters degree on the
historical fiction of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, in particular his novel Arus
Balik, and then went to work for three years in Qingdao in China. In 2002, she
travelled through Cambodia by truck, boat and motorcycle, spending time at
Angkor Wat and its environs.
In 2007, Borobudur was
given a final edit, including additional material such as the Angkor sequence,
and was published this year by Transit Lounge. Jennifer has also recently
completed a prose work The Massage, set in contemporary China, and is currently
working on The PowerStation, set in Melbourne. She has two children, Zeno and
Holly, and is currently living in Melbourne.
MAHJOUB, JAMAL
Born in London, Jamal
grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and has lived in the UK, Denmark and Spain. A
novelist, he also writes essays and short stories. His work has been widely
translated and received several awards, including the Etonnants Voyageurs
Festival prize and the Mario Vargas Llosa NH prize.
MANDA, I NYOMAN
Born in 1938 in Gianyar,
I Nyoman Manda is one of the Bali’s most respected writers and is among a
handful of remaining senior authors who write fluently in both Balinese and
Indonesia languages and are familiar with the traditional and modern literary
forms. He pursued a career as a school teacher before serving as a member of
Gianyar Legislative Council. Manda is a prolific author having published at
least 70 books of poetry, short stories and novels. He has received various
literary awards, including from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in
1973, Gianyar’s Wijaya Kesuma in 1984, Bali’s Dharma Kesuma in 2006 and Bali’s
Widia Pataka in the same year. He was awarded the prestigious Rancage Award in
1998, 2003 and 2007.
MANSYUR, M. AAN
M Aan Mansyur was born
in Bone, South Sulawesi. Following his passion for reading and writing, he
established a literary community in the form of a readers’ café named
“Biblioholic” in Makassar. While busy with managing the library and café,
he continues to publish books and has produced a number of documentaries.
He has published three anthology of poems; Hujan Rintih-Rintih (The
Rain that Moans – Ininnawa, 2005); Aku Hendak Pindah Rumah (I Am
about to Exit the House: Nala Cipta Litera, 2008 – longlisted for the
2008 Khatulistiwa Literary Award); Cinta yang Marah (An Angry Kind of
Love, Bejana, 2009). He has also published a novel, Perempuan, Rumah
Kenangan (Woman, House of Memoir) (InsistPress, 2007).
MARGA, INGGIT PUTRIA
Inggit Putria Marga was
born in Tangjungkarang, Lampung. She completed her higher education in Lampung
University’s Faculty of Agriculture. In 2005, she received an Cultural Award as
Best Poet from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. She also won first prize in
the poetry writing competition held as part of the National University Student
Art Gathering in 2004, and second prize in the Krakata Poetry Award. In 2008
and 2009, three of her poems were included in the 100 Best Indonesian
Poems and Pena Kencana Foundation’s 60 best Indonesian Poems.
MATUR, BEJAN
Bejan Matur was born of
an Alevi Kurdish family on 14 September 1968 in the ancient Hittite city of
Maras in southeast Turkey. Her poems has been translated into many languages,
including an English version of In the Temple of a Patient
God. Her last book, İbrahim’in Beni Terketmesi, published in
March 2008, is considered by critics to be her best book ever. Bejan Matur, who
believes there is no frontier between poetry and life, travels the world like a
long-term desert nomad. She stops by Istanbul, a city she sometimes lives in.
MAZARI, NAJAF
Najaf Mazari was born in
1971 in a small village near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. At the age
of 12, he left school and, unbeknown to his parents, apprenticed himself to a
master rugmaker. Thus began his love affair with rugs!
He fled Afghanistan in
2001 after being tortured and narrowly escaping certain death during the genocide
of men and boys in Mazar-e-Sharif by the Taliban. Reluctantly leaving behind a
young wife and 6-month old baby, he made the dangerous journey overland,
eventually crossing the ocean in a leaky boat to the shores of Australia, where
he ended up in the Woomera Detention Centre. After his release, he settled in
Melbourne where he now owns a rug shop, selling traditional Afghan rugs.
His wife and daughter
were finally given permission by the Australian government to join him in 2006
after a 6-year separation. In April 2007, he was granted Australian
citizenship.
MCCALLUM, MUNGO
Born Sydney 1941,
educated Cranbrook School, Sydney University (BA (Hons) in Pure Mathematics).
Graduated 1962. Travelled in Asia and Europe 1963-4.
Joined The Australian in 1965. Sydney bureau 1965-69. Canberra Press gallery 1969-71. Political correspondent for Nation Review 1971-79. Freelanced in Press gallery 1979-88, working for (among others) The Age, The Financial Review, The Melbourne Herald, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, SBS, Channel Nine, Channel Ten, and numerous magazines including The Listener (NZ), The Spectator (UK), and Penthouse.
Joined The Australian in 1965. Sydney bureau 1965-69. Canberra Press gallery 1969-71. Political correspondent for Nation Review 1971-79. Freelanced in Press gallery 1979-88, working for (among others) The Age, The Financial Review, The Melbourne Herald, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, SBS, Channel Nine, Channel Ten, and numerous magazines including The Listener (NZ), The Spectator (UK), and Penthouse.
Moved to the north coast
of New South Wales in 1988 to continue work as occasional political commentator
for various media.
Books: Mungo’s Canberra,
Mungo on the Zoo Plane, Mungo: the Man Who Laughs, How to be a Megalomaniac,
Mungo’s Political Anecdotes, Run Johnny Run — the 2004 Election, Poll Dancing –
the 2007 Election.
I once was an
over-achiever
A true journalistic believer
But now I relax
With a phone and a fax
And a large curly-coated retriever.
A true journalistic believer
But now I relax
With a phone and a fax
And a large curly-coated retriever.
(actually the retriever
has passed on, but there are other dogs).
MCCARTY, STEPHEN
Stephen McCarty is
Literary Editor of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. He is a cyclist
and footballer and wonders about the future of literary festivals after the
Kindle kills the book.
MCMILLAN, ANDREW
Living in the Northern
Territory since 1988 and through Australian Aboriginal friends, Andrew has
immersed himself in a region little known to outsiders. Drawing on his own
first-hand experiences and numerous historical sources, his latest book is part
history, part journalism and part love story with a people and a place.
Andrew’s close contact with the people of East Arnhem Land has resulted in a
relationship that allowed him to write what is said to be essential reading for
those with an interest in Aboriginal history. Andrew, a ‘white
fella’ has been welcomed into homes and camps in East Arnhem Land and
ensured his book gained approval from clans living in this remote part of the
world. Despite commercial impact, the Aboriginal inhabitants of East Arnhem
Land have been less affected by white society than those in most other parts of
Australia. This award winning book tells of a moving and exciting story of
warfare, loss, social and cultural struggle, and renewal.
“Having the patience to
sit quietly in the sand and listen, Andrew has been adopted into my family and
has been welcomed into our homes and our camps. This book is one of the results
of that contact.”
Mandawuy Yunupingu –
Australian of the Year and and lead singer of Yothu Yindi
MOCHAMA, TONY
Tony ‘smitta’ Mochama is
a poet and journalist who lives and works in Nairobi. A Law graduate, Tony is
also a vodka connoisseur, gossip columnist extraordinaire, and has a collection
of short stories coming out soon titled – ‘The ruins down in Africa’. He has
also been called a ‘literary gangster’, from time to rhyme. His collection of
poetry, ‘What if I am a literary gangster?’ was published by Brown Bear Insignia
in 2007.
MOHAN, VINITA RAMANI
A former journalist,
Vinita Ramani Mohan is a writer and Deputy Director of Access to Justice Asia,
a non-profit organisation dedicated to furthering the interests of victims of
genocide in Asia.
Vinita Ramani Mohan is
the Deputy Director of Access to Justice Asia, a non-profit organisation
dedicated to capacity building and furthering the interests of victims of
genocide in Asia. As part of AJA’s work with survivors at the Khmer Rouge
Tribunal in Cambodia, she is developing an arts and justice program to see how
storytelling, theater, dance and other forms of expression can help Cambodian
survivors respond to traumatic pasts and to (sometimes traumatizing)
contemporary court proceedings. Much of this work is built on research she did
as an ASIA Fellow (Asian Scholarship Foundation) in Cambodia in 2007-2008.
Vinita and her husband
have co-authored a play, The Special Ones, which touches on memory, the idea of
justice and the omnipresence of spirits that are not easily appeased. In 2006,
she wrote and performed a monologue about identity, sexuality and Hinduism
entitled Padmini. Vinita has been writing for over a decade as a music and film
critic and as a journalist in Singapore and currently writes for Kyoto Journal.
Vinita was the Singapore
International Film Festival’s resident writer and publicist for the 2002, 2004
and 2005 festival seasons. A former singer-songwriter and bassist in a garage
rock band, she now dedicates her time to creative non fiction and playwriting.
MUHAMMAD, AMIR
Amir Muhammad is a
writer, publisher and occasional filmmaker based in Malaysia. He set up
Matahari Books in 2007 for non-fiction and film-related books, and has
currently published 9 books.
Amir Muhammad is a
writer, publisher and occasional filmmaker based in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. He
has been writing for the local print media since the age of 14 but had his
column terminated twice (in 1999 and 2008) for political reasons. He has a Law
degree from the University of East Anglia but he does not use it.
He started making movies
in 2000 out of boredom. And he decided to stop in 2009 also out of boredom. Two
of his documentaries, The Last Communist (2006) and Village People Radio Show
(2007) are banned in Malaysia. His works have been shown in numerous
international film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin and Pusan. But he is
proudest of the fact that some of them are now available on pirated DVD not
only in Malaysia but in Bangkok and Beijing. He also co-directed a lesbian
vampire movie, Susuk (2008) which did quite well in Malaysia.
He set up Matahari Books
in 2007 to publish non-fiction about Malaysia. Its first book Malaysian
Politicians Say the Darndest Things (Vol 1) was a bestseller and helped pay for
the next three books, which merely broke even. He also edited the first two
volumes of New Malaysian Essays series, an attempt to create a more serious but
well-designed platform for local writing. Its latest book is Body 2 Body: A
Malaysian Queer Anthology, the first of its kind. He is unsure if this will get
banned, as he believes things should be allowed to happen spontaneously.
MUKHERJEE, NEEL
Neel Mukherjee was born
in Calcutta and educated in Calcutta, Oxford, and Cambridge. He reviews fiction
for the Times and Time Magazine Asia and has written for the TLS,
the Daily Telegraph, the Observer, the New York Times,
the Boston Review, the Sunday Telegraph and Biblio. He is
also a contributing editor to Boston Review. He divides his time between
London and the USA. Past Continuous is his first novel. The UK
edition of the novel, titled A Life Apart, is being published by Constable
& Robinson in early 2010.
MURPHY, RICHARD
Richard McGill Murphy is
the editor of Fortune Small Business magazine. He holds a doctorate
in South Asian anthropology and has lived and traveled extensively in Pakistan.
Murphy’s memoir, Lahore Nights, is forthcoming from Knopf.
MUSA, OMAR
“Omar Musa is a poet,
not just a rapper. Omar possesses a God-given and remarkably well developed
flair for rhyming — very few are capable of replicating what he does with
words.” -Faz Nur, BMA Magazine.
“It’s all extremely
fresh; Musa doesn’t sound quite like anybody else in hip hop at the moment.”
Jody Macgregor, Rave Magazine, Brisbane.
Sharp and poetic,
Australian hip-hop has an original new voice. Omar Musa, 2008 Australian Poetry
Slam champion, is not a traditional rapper. It is rare to meet one who has swum
with piranhas and alligators in Bolivia or taught Aboriginal children in
outback Australia. The Malaysian-Australian baritone has backpacked almost
every continent and has a treasure-trove of stories to tell. Raised in the
orange brick flats of Queanbeyan, Australia as part of an artistic family, the
25-year old says he wants to “introduce a new level of poetry to Australian
hip-hop.”
Musa was a winner of the
British Council’s Realise Your Dream award in 2007 and relocated to London to
work in the UK hip-hop scene with grime star Akala and slam poet Jahnell. He
has been played on Triple J and has recorded with J Records band 2AM Club in
Los Angeles. He recorded his debut The Massive EP with veteran producer Geoff
Stanfield in Seattle, USA, of whom he says “I finally felt as if I had found
the perfect sound to compliment my lyrics.”
“It is a strange animal
of an EP,” says Musa. “Written in London, recorded in the States by a
Malaysian-Australian, it definitely has an original feel.” Navigating
between underground hip-hop and mainstage performance poetry, Musa’s work is
unique.
MUTTAQIN, A
A Muttaqin, from Gresik,
East Java, graduated from Indonesian Literature at the University Negeri
Surabaya. His poems have been published in various media, such as the daily
newspapers Kompas, Koran Tempo, Surya, Suara Merdeka, Horison, Jurnal
Nasional, Suara Indonesia, dan Surabaya Post. They have
also appeared in a number of anthologies, including Pelayaran
Bunga (Cak Durasim Festival 2007), Rumah Pasir (Surabaya Art
Festival 2008), 100 Puisi Indonesia Terbaik (Sastra Pena Kencana I
Award) 2008, and 60 Puisi Indonesia Terbaik (Sastra Pena Kencana
II Award) 2009. He lives and works in Surabaya.
MYINT-U, THANT
Thant Myint-U is an
historian and former United Nations official. He was born in January 1966 in
New York City when his grandfather U Thant was serving as Secretary-General of
the UN. He was educated at Harvard and Cambridge Universities and taught
history for four years as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge after
completing his PhD there in 1996.
He has also served on
three United Nations peacekeeping operations, in Cambodia (1992-3) and in the
former Yugoslavia (1994-6), including as the UN’s spokeman in Sarajevo during
the Bosnian war. From 2000-2006 he served in different positions at the UN
Secretariat in New York, most recently as the head of Policy Planning in the Department
of Political Affairs. In 2004 he worked with a UN panel of former presidents
and prime ministers whose recommendations were adopted at a summit of world
leaders the following year.
Thant Myint-U is also
the author of two books, The Making of Modern Burma (Cambridge
University Press 2000) andThe River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of
Burma (FSG and Faber/Faber 2006-7). He has also written several monographs
and book chapters and for the New York Times, the LA Times, Time magazine, the
Guardian, the TLS, the London Review of Books, and others. He has held visiting
fellowships at Harvard, the International Peace Academy, and the Institute for
Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
He is currently involved
in mediation efforts in Burma/Myanmar and his new book, The Hidden Map of
Asia, will be published in 2010.
NG YI-SHENG
Ng Yi-Sheng (b. 1980) is
a full-time writer of poetry, drama, non-fiction, fiction, songs, slam,
journalism and criticism. He won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2008 for his
debut poetry collection, last boy, and his non-fiction book SQ21: Singapore
Queers in the 21st Century was a local best-seller.
He was recognised for
his writing at an early age, winning awards such as the TheatreWorks 24-Hour
Playwriting Competition while still a schoolboy. During his army years, he
edited onewinged, an anthology of young people’s writing, and underwent
playwriting mentorships at TheatreWorks and The Necessary Stage. He then
attended Columbia University, where he studied Comparative Literature and
Writing, and became involved in gay activism.
Yi-Sheng’s other books
include the novelisation of the motorcycle gangster movie Eating Air and On His
Wings: Soaring Twenty Years On, a history of his alma mater. His plays include
251 (about local porn star Annabel Chong), Georgette (a musical about local
artist Georgette Chen) and The Last Temptation of Stamford Raffles (about
Singapore’s colonial founder). He has also created performances with the
multi-disciplinary art collective V.I.S.T.A Lab.
Professionally, he
writes for the children’s newspaper What’s Up and the gay online portal
Fridae.com. He is also a regular contributor of arts criticism to the Straits
Times and various online journals.
Yi-Sheng’s current
projects include a children’s book, a non-fiction book on the year 1984 in
Singapore, a collection of interviews with rent-boys in Zurich, and an
anthology of queer Singaporean writing. For recreation, he practises capoeira.
He blogs at http://lastboy.blogspot.com.
NG, CLARA
Clara Ng, of
Chinese-Indonesian decscent, is a prolific writer. The recipient of the
Adikarya Ikapi Award for Indonesian Children Literature in 2006, 2007 and 2008,
Clara dedicates her life completely to literature. To date, she has written
countless children stories, twelve best-selling adult novels, a collection of
short stories, and an anthology. She is also an essayist and short story
writer for newspapers and magazines. She lectures at many universities in Indonesia
and is an active spokesperson for various literary communities, including
facilitating young students to read and write.
OETOMO, DEDE
Dédé Oetomo co-founded
Lambda Indonesia, Indonesia’s first gay organization, in 1982, and GAYa
NUSANTARA, the longest-running Indonesian gay organisation, in 1987. He is now
an organisation trustee, undertaking research, training, advocacy and mentoring
second- and third-generation Indonesian LGBTIQ activists and others concerned
with studying sexuality critically. As a gay activist, Oetomo argues that in
addition to community mobilizing and provision of safe space, it remains
important to engage in contestation of knowledge with opponents of gay
emancipation. To this end he is a prolific publisher of articles for the print media
in Indonesia.
Oetomo holds a PhD in
linguistics from Cornell University. His thesis examined issues of language and
identity in an ethnic Chinese community in East Java Province, Indonesia and
paid particular attention to phenomena such as diversity, contexts, and
situationality—phenomena which he later brought into the study of gender and
sexual diversity.
He lives alone in
Surabaya, and has a long-distance partner, Purba Widnyana, in Yogyakarta. He
enjoys a wide range of films, music and fine dining, and is an avid reader.
O’SULLIVAN, JOHN
John O’Sullivan was born
in Sligo, Ireland in 1962. His first book, Under the Blazing Sun, is a
collection of poetry, photographs and prose that came together during his years
in Cairo. His new book, Odd Poems and Slogans, is a volume of poems and
slogans spawned in 30 countries over the last eight years.
Although John has been
writing poetry since he was 12 and collecting artwork since he was 16, it
wasn’t until he was in his mid-30s that he woke up and decided to paint. He has
since exhibited his artwork in Norway, London, Cairo, Indonesia and Ireland.
All proceeds go to homeless children or orphanages in the country of sale. He
is preparing for his upcoming exhibition, a collaboration of works with his
friend, talented Balinese artist Ida Bagus Indra in October 2009.
For every painting the
peripatetic Irishman writes a poem. He claims, “Words and images are natural
bed-partners. As kids we make a huge connection between the two, but as we get
older, reality beats it out of us. I like to reconnect words and images.”
POON, WENA
Singapore-born American
author Wena Poon has been writing fiction ever since she was a child. She
completed her first novel when she was 14, and by the time she finished college
she had written a dozen novels, all of which were “corny and unpublishable”.
Her stories have since appeared in numerous literary journals, including
definitive anthologies of Singapore fiction issued by Penguin Books and the
National University of Singapore. Wena moved to the US when she was 17. Her
fiction reflects her Singapore childhood and American life, and often comments
on the loving but troubled relations between Asia and the West. TIME Magazine
called her an “exile who returns to illuminate parts of Singapore, often quite
beautifully”.
In 2007, MPH Publishing
collected all of her previously published short fiction about her home country
in a volume called Lions In Winter, which was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor
International Short Story Award and shortlisted for the Singapore Literature
Prize. It is under contract with a UK publisher for international release.After
Lions in Winter, she completed a new literary fiction book, The Proper Care of
Foxes, which is expected to be released in 2010. She also publishes her own
literary science fiction series, Biophilia, on Amazon US, and is re-issuing it
in a single 4 novel collection, The Biophilia Omnibus in October 2009. Wena
graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in English Literature and
holds a JD from Harvard Law School. She is a practising attorney. Prior to her
legal career, she worked in print journalism and television. She lives in San
Francisco and Austin with her husband and two cats.
PAMUNTJAK, LAKSMI
Laksmi Pamuntjak is the
author of two collections of poetry, The Anagram and Ellipsis (one of The
Herald UK 2005 Books of the Year), a treatise on violence entitled Perang,
Langit dan Dua Perempuan (War, Heaven, and Two Women), the award-winning The
Jakarta Good Food Guide series, a collection of short stories based on
paintings, The Diary of R.S.: Musings on Art, and two translations of Goenawan
Mohamad’s works entitled Goenawan Mohamad: Selected Poems and On God and Other
Unfinished Things. Pamuntjak is also a jury member of the Netherlands-based
Prince Claus Awards Committee and co-founder of Aksara, a bilingual bookstore
in Jakarta. She is currently working on her first novel set in Buru Island, The
Blue Widow.
PUTRA, ESHA TEGAR
Esha Tegar Putra was
born in Solok, West Sumatra in 1985, growing up in Saniang Baka, a village on
the edge of Singkarak Lake. His poetry, prose, essays and cultural articles
have been published by local and national newspapers and in journals. He is
currently studying Indonesian Literature in Faculty of Letters, Andalas
University in Padang, West Sumatra. Pinangan Orang Ladang (“Love
Proposal of the Farmer” – Jogja, 2009) was his first anthology.
RAHARDJO, YONATHAN
Yonathan Rahardjo, born
in Bojonegoro, is author of Lanang the Novel (2008), which was one of
the winners of the Jakarta Arts Council Novel Competition 2006. His other
works include: Avian Influenza: Prevention and Control(2004), Poetry
Anthology: Answer of Disorder (2004), Foodstuff
Sovereignty (2009). Since 1983, his poems, short stories, literary
essays, opinion pieces and journalism have been published in a variety of
collections and in the media. He has experience in performance poetry, readings
and Syairupa (a collaboration of poetry readings and painting). He is active in
a number of literary, cultural, environmental and veterinarian communities.
ROGERS, KATE
Kathryn (Kate) Rogers
has twice been short-listed for the Winston Collins Best Canadian Poem Prize by
Descant Magazine (Toronto) in February 2009 and January 2008. Her poetry,
essays and reviews have been published in anthologies and literary magazines in
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada, the U.S. and the UK. Publications include
the Asia Literary Review, Many Mountains Moving, Dimsum, Pressed, The New
Quarterly, Contemporary Verse II, Canadian Woman Studies, The Mad Woman in the
Academy and Orbis International. Her work also appeared in the
anthology,We Who Can Fly: Poems, Essays and Memories in Honour of Adele
Wiseman.
Kate is co-editor of the
international women’s poetry anthology Not A Muse (Haven Books, Hong
Kong, March 2009); her poetry collection, “Painting the Borrowed House”,
debuted at the Man Hong Kong Literary Festival in March 2008. It is available
on Amazon.com and from Proverse, Hong Kong.
Originally from Toronto,
Kate has been teaching writing, literature and English for Academic and
Professional Purposes for colleges and universities in China, Hong Kong and
Taiwan for the past ten years. A bi-lingual Chinese and English collection of
her essays about conservation, bird watching and culture in Taiwan, The
Swallows’ Return, was published in June 2006.
Kate teaches in the
Division of Language Studies at the Community College of City University in
Hong Kong.
SANTIKARMA, DEGUNG
Degung Santikarma is an
Indonesian anthropologist/journalist/human rights activist and the former
Editor-in-Chief of the now-defunct Latitudes magazine, a Bali-based
culture-critiquing monthly. He has written on topics ranging from the colonial
history of underwear to the cultural politics of Balinese trance but his major
research focus is on violence and the legacies of authoritarianism in Indonesia
particularly the massacres of 1965-66.
STEELE, JANET
Janet Steele is an
Associate Professor of Journalism at the School of Media and Public Affairs at
George Washington University. She received her Ph.D. in History from the Johns
Hopkins University, and is especially interested in how culture is communicated
through the mass media. She is a frequent visitor to Southeast Asia, where she
lectures on topics ranging from the role of the press in a democratic society
to specialized courses on narrative journalism.
Her most recent book
Wars Within: The Story of Tempo, an Independent Magazine in Soeharto’s
Indonesia (Equinox Publishing and ISEAS, 2005) focuses on Tempo magazine and
its relationship to the politics and culture of New Order Indonesia. She has
published articles on media history and criticism in journals such as
International Journal of Press/Politics, Asian Studies Review, Indonesia,
Foreign Policy, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Political
Communication, Columbia Journalism Review, and The American Journalism Review,
and lectured on the theory and practice of journalism as a State Department
Speaker and Specialist in India, Malaysia, The Philippines, East Timor, Taiwan,
and Bangladesh.
A former Fulbright
professor in the American Studies program at the University of Indonesia
(1997-8), she was awarded a second Fulbright teaching and research grant to
Jakarta’s Dr. Soetomo Press Institute for 2005-2006. Fluent in Indonesian, she
writes a weekly newspaper column called “Email from America” for Surya daily in
Surabaya, East Java.
SUKARDI, RAMYA
HAYASRESTHA
Ramya Hayasrestha
Sukardi was born in Perth, Australia, eleventh years ago,19 May 1998. She
starts writing when she’s 6 year old. Starting with diary journals, then short
stories even her parents are not writers. Her mother is an accountant and her
dad is an IT consultant. She really loves writing! She can write on any medium
she finds, even in a piece of tissue paper or an origami. That’s why she always
brings a pen and her sketchbook everywhere. She also loves reading. Her private
children books now reach more than 600 and she wishes that she can have a
public library for children nearby, especially less-fortunate kids. She joins
Goodreads, an online group of bookworms and has a blog site too
http://ramyass.multiply.com/, while she likes to post her stories and have
chats with other kids around the world. Other favorite activities are playing
piano, swimming, ballet, and Bali dancing.
On her 8th birthday, in
2006, her parents had an idea to compile all of her short stories in a book and
give it as a birthday souvenir for her cousins and class mates. ‘Petualangan
Ramya’ (Ramya’s Adventures) comprises of 33 short stories. The publisher, PT
Manca Anak Indonesia initiated to put the ISBN and display the books along with
their published books in bookstores, such as Gramedia and TGA.
Ramya’s passion in
writing never ends. She continues writing and writing. Every day she spares
time to write story. Sometimes the story is never finished. She will write
another story. Some of them with illustrations or manga-version. Her mother
encourages her to send her essays to magazines to sharpen her writing skill,
patience and self-confidence. Some of them were published and she’s really
happy as she gets honorarium or book prizes!
poem ‘Bintang yang
Berkelap-Kelip (Shining Stars)’, Inspired Kids magazine, Februari 2006
short story ‘‘Kupu-kupu
yang Kehujanan (The Butterfly that Got Caught in Rain)’ Kompas Minggu
newspaper, September 2006
short story ‘Rumahku
Kedatangan Tamu (I Have a Guest)’ Bobo, children magazine, Juni 2007
In 2008, her second
(Dunia Es Krim/Ice Cream World) and third book (My Piano My Best Friend) were
published by DAR!Mizan on its series ‘Kecil-Kecil Punya Karya/KKPK’ (Young
Writers), specifically for little authors age 6-12 year old. Each book
comprises of eight and nine short stories which become a hit and they are
already on their 2nd editions.
Her works still flows.
She’s now waiting for her 4th book, The Compilation of Eight Indonesia Young
Writers, which contains two of her short stories.
On her leisure time or
week ends, Ramya shares her dreams and passion to other kids. She gets invited
by other schools or talk-show on book stores or Book Fair.
She enjoys writing and continues exploring….!
She enjoys writing and continues exploring….!
SAWITRI, COK
Cok Sawitri, born in
Bali, is known through her poetry, short stories, plays and novels, all taking
gender and spirituality issues as the basis of her creative process. Her
theatre productions such as Pembelaan Dirah (Dirah’s Defense), Badan
Bahagia (Happy Body), Anjing Perempuan (A Female Dog), Aku bukan Perempuan Lagi
(I Am No Longer A Woman), Wisuda Bumi (The Graduation of the Earth), reveal
Cok’s abilities is not just in directing, but also in choreography. Her
writings have been published widely in the Indonesian media, and in anthologies
with other female poets and short story writers. Her work has always
bought acclaim from literary critics.
Cok is also an activist
with an extensive network and a cultural commentator with a strong grasp on
history. Her latest novels, Sutasoma (2008) and Janda dari
Jirah (A Widow from Jirah, June 2007) reveal her creative commitment:
that there is no such thing as retiring in arts and one should not carry the
title ‘artist’ merely for past achievements.
SIBANDA, THANDO
Thando Sibanda is an
arts consultant, writer and performing poet and actor who hails from Zimbabwe .
His work is centred on the individual’s struggles through life and he uses deep
imagery to articulate his inner feelings. Sibanda is a social commentator who
works with different humanitarian organisations based in his somewhat unstable
home country.
He focuses on community
development through the arts and uses his creative skills to impact a message
of hope and the possibility of awakening/activating a social conscience in all
his peers and society as a whole.
SIRIMOROK, NURHADY
Nurhady Sirimorok writes
literary, historical and cultural critiques, as well as short stories, and has
translated several books on the history and culture of South Sulawesi. He
is currently researching a book on the history of social movements in the
province, as a part a wider movement towards the rewriting of Indonesian history.
SOYINKA, WOLE
Professor Wole Soyinka
is a Nigerian playwright and poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature in
1986 – the first African to receive this award. He is among Africa’s most
distinguished writers.
Soyinka has also played
an active role in Nigeria’s political history. In 1967, during the Nigerian
Civil War he was arrested by the Federal Government and put in solitary
confinement for his attempts at brokering a peace between the warring parties.
While in prison he wrote poetry which was published in a collection titled
Poems from Prison. He was released 22 months later after international
attention was drawn to his imprisonment. Wole Soyinka has been an outspoken
critic of many Nigerian administrations and of political tyrannies worldwide,
including the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. A great deal of his writing has been
concerned with “the oppressive boot and the irrelevance of the colour of the
foot that wears it”.
In 1994, he was
designated United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of African culture, human
rights, freedom of expression, media and communication.
SURYAWAN, I NGURAH
Born in Denpasar, Bali,
Suryawan I Ngurah studied politics, culture and violence in Bali. He is
currently undertaking a study in Papuan history, violence and nationalism. He
completed his Bachelor Degree in Anthropology in the Faculty of Literature,
Universitas Udayana in 2006, and then completed a post-graduate study in
Cultural Analysis in 2008. He is now studying for his PhD at the
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta. Some of his published works
include: Bali, Narasi dalam Kuasa: Politik dan Kekerasan di
Bali (2005), Ladang Hitam di Pulau Dewa: Pembantaian Massal di Bali
1965(2007).
SWARUP, VIKAS
Vikas Swarup is an
Indian diplomat presently serving as India’s Consul General in Osaka-Kobe and
the author of two novels Q&A, which was filmed as Slumdog
Millionaire, and Six Suspects. His books have been translated in over
forty languages.
SYLVIANA, MONA
Mona Sylviana was born
in Bandung in 1972. Since graduating from Communication Sciences from the
Bandung Padjadjaran University, she has worked in writing and theatre. Since
2000, she has been a member of the Institut Nalar Jatinangor, a non-profit
organisation providing multicultural education through discussions, seminars,
publishing, libraries, and training. Her short stories and essays have been
published in various media, including Kompas, Koran Tempo, Media
Indonesia, Pikiran Rakyat, Tribun Jabar, and Jurnal
Perempuan. She has also compiled a number of anthologies,
including Improvisasi X (Bentang Budaya, 1995), Angkatan 2000 Sastra
Indonesia and Dunia Perempuan.
SCHWARTZ, DOMINIQUE
Dominique Schwartz is an
Australian broadcaster, presenter and newspaper columnist, currently living in
Adelaide. Her work has taken her to more than fifty countries, but she
maintains a good book can take her further.
TEJANI, MOHEZIN
Mohezin Tejani grew up
in Idi Amin’s Uganda, became a political refugee in 1972 and have been living
in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the last 8 years. The first of his three-volume
memoir trilogy was published in the USA and was a finalist for a 2007 PEN Award
in New York. Supplementary bio details, international reviews and book excerpts
can be found on his website www.mo-tejani.com. Mohezin is interested in
literature and its possibilities for social change, and has worked in
Indonesia, including providing psychosocial trauma training for victims and
survivors of the Bali bombings in Oct. 2002
THACKER, BRIAN
Brian was born in
England, but he didn’t like the weather so he immigrated to Melbourne in
Australia when he was six. He brought his family along as well and moved into a
lovely hacienda in the tropical paradise of Bonbeach. Okay, it was a normal
suburban house in Melbourne’s suburban sprawl, but to a family of sickly white
Poms, the quiet bay beach was heaven and every free day was spent frying in the
sun like all good Poms do.
Not long after finishing
an advertising course at University, Brian took the first of many trips
overseas, hitch-hiking 10,000 kilometres around Europe. He then spent two years
working as an art director for a London advertising agency before the cold
mornings finally sent him scurrying home to warmer climes. The travel bug soon
bit again and two years later he was off back to Europe to work as a tour
leader for Top Deck, an 18 to 35 tour company where he escorted busloads of
drunk Aussies and Kiwis from Paris to St. Petersburg to Budapest and beyond. In
the winter months he worked (well, if you want to call it work) as a ski guide
in Switzerland, where he got paid to get up every morning and go skiing. Before
his liver collapsed from all the partying he returned home three years later to
his advertising career. In 2003 Brian left full-time employment to become a
very poor full-time author. When Brian isn’t galivanting around the world he
calls Melbourne, Australia home. So far he has visited 77 countries (78 if you
count Tasmania).
THAYIL, JEET
Jeet Thayil was born in
Kerala, India, and educated in Jesuit schools in Hongkong, New York and Bombay.
A poet, novelist and musician, he is one half of the experimental music duo
Sridhar/Thayil. He has performed poetry at many venues around the world,
including the Galle Literary Festival, the Jaipur Literary Festival, the London
Book Fair, and the Knitting Factory (NYC). His four poetry collections include
These Errors Are Correct (Tranquebar, 2008) and English (Penguin/Rattapallax,
2004), and he is the editor of The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets
(Bloodaxe, 2008) and Divided Time: India and the End of Diaspora (Routledge,
2006). His writing has appeared in London Magazine, Verse, Stand, Agenda, Poets
& Writers, The Cortland Review, Drunken Boat, The Independent and Poetry
Review, among many other journals.
He is a contributing
editor to Fulcrum, the Boston-based poetry journal, and an editor of
Rattapallax, a New York multi-media literary magazine. He is a recipient of
awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation
and the Swiss Arts Council. In 2004, he moved from New York to New Delhi and
currently lives in Bombay.
VIDYA, LUNA
Luna Vidya, was born in
Papua, now live in Makassar, Indonesia. She is a mother of four boys. Start
play on stage since 1984. The last four years she concentrates on monologue
plays. Besides performing on other people scripts, she also writes her own
monologue scripts. The Kitchen is one of two scripts she adapted from short
stories written by Lily Yuliani, her co-founder in Makkunrai Project. The other
one is Makkunrai. She also writes poems, essays, and journals.
VATIKIOTIS, MICHAEL
Michael Vatikiotis is
Regional Director for the Geneva-based the Henry Dunant Centre for
Humanitarian Dialogue. Based in Singapore, he works on promoting dialogue
and conflict resolution in Asia. Formerly editor of the Far Eastern
Economic Review, Vatikiotis has been a writer and journalist in Asia for
20 years. He has lived in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as well as Hong
Kong. He has written two books on regional politics: “Indonesian Politics
Under Suharto” and “Political Change in Southeast Asia”. His published
fiction includes “The Spice Garden” a novel on religious conflict in
Eastern Indonesia published in 2004 and two collections of short
stories “Debatable Land” (2001) and “Singapore Ground Zero”
(2007). He is a regular contributor to the opinion page of several
newspapers and is completing a second novel set in Indonesia
WEN, ERNEST J.K.
Ernestine Julia K Wen
(Ernest J.K. Wen) was born and raised in West Borneo, in a Chinese-Indonesian
community. Now living far from home, she maintains a strong connection to
her cultural origins through studying Chinese culture, in particular
literature. She prefers to be known as someone who writes as a hobby,
rather than as a novelist. Although she doesn’t work in a particular genre, she
explores themes that other writers usually avoid. Her three published
novels engage with issues of homosexuality and life as a Chinese Indonesian.
WHEELER, CAT
Moving with her family
to rural Malaysia in 1970 while still in her teens changed the focus and
flavour of Cat’s life. The Canadian instantly fell under Asia’s potent spell
and returned for many visits before settling in Singapore in 1990. She was
based there for a decade, writing about Southeast Asia for the Canadian
International Development Agency and the Financial Post. During these years Cat
traveled around the region carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit, while
nursing a recurring fantasy that featured a big garden, lots of animals and a
passport with hardly any stamps in it.
Taking the giant step
from Singapore to Ubud in 2000, Cat settled happily into a slower, simpler
life. ‘Dragons in the Bath’ is drawn from her regular column in the Bali
Advertiser, a popular English language newspaper. The book explores the
minutiae of daily life in rural Bali with sympathy and humour, balanced with
issues that have a direct impact on the island’s people and environment.
Development work is an important element in her life here. Cat partners with
Rotary Clubs, NGOs and individual change agents to help to write proposals,
raise funds and design simple programs for community needs.
Cat visited Ubud for the
first time in 1970 and has been captivated by it ever since. Now she’s living
out her fantasy. She writes on her patio overlooking the jungle garden, with a
parrot on her shoulder and a dog slumbering on each foot.
WIDIJANTO, TJAHJONO
Tjahjono Widijanto is a
poet, essayist and short story writer. His writings have been published in
various Indonesian and Malaysian media, including the
journal PERISA, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Malaysia. He has
published anthologies,Ekstase Jemari (1995), and Dunia Tanpa
Alamat (DKJT, 2003), and his literary essays were published in Raja
Mantra Presiden Penyair (2007) and Apa Kabar Sastra (2004).
Tjahjono has been invited to attend literary seminars in several
countries and has won essay writing and literary competitions.
WINCH, TARA JUNE
Tara June Winch is a 25-year-old
author. She has won numerous major literary awards including the coveted
international Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Award in 2008-2009, which sees her
working under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. She is ambassador
for Indigenous Literacy Project, the Premiers Reading Challenge, and is youth
and NSW representative on the Australia Council for the Arts board. She is
studying her Masters. Her second novel is out next year and she is currently
writing a play in New York.
WOON TAI HO
In November 2008, Woon
Tai Ho wrote his first book, “To Paint a Smile”. One month later, it went into
its second print. He is writing his second book now.
Tai Ho began his career
with MediaCorp in 1984 as a Reporter/Producer. He later became the editor of a
TV magazine programme. Following that, he headed the Current Affairs Division,
where he produced the documentary “Depth of Field: Portrait of Chua Soo Bin”
winning the 1992 International Grand Prix for Creative Documentaries in Monte
Carlo. He launched several award winning series, the most memorable being
“Extraordinary People”.
In 1999 Tai Ho headed a
team and launched Channel NewsAsia. In 2000, he became CEO of MediaCorp TV12
and launched a Malay Channel, Suria and Central which included the first channel
for the arts, Arts Central.
In 2004, Tai Ho returned
to MediaCorp News as CEO, to expand Channel NewsAsia in Asia. Today the channel
is watched throughout Asia. It is the first English news channel that looks at
the world for an Asian audience. Tai Ho oversaw the creation of the CNA website
which is the most visited website in Singapore and made it available on mobile
devices.
In March 2009, after 25
years in media, Tai Ho resigned after celebrating the 10th Anniversary of
Channel NewsAsia to pursue writing and explore other career opportunities.
Tai Ho holds a Bachelor
of Social Science (Honours) degree from the National University of Singapore.
Tai Ho has had training and professional stints both in Europe and the U.S.
YATIM, DEBRA
Debra H Yatim is an
activist, journalist, author, documentary film maker and founder of Komseni, an
organization for communication for art, and Visi Anak Bangsa (Vision of the
Children of the Nation). Active in issues concerned with education, gender and
the environment, she has published an anthology in English, Of Aceh and
Turning Tides – Song for My Sister and won the Internews Media Leadership
Award.
YOGIS, JAIMAL
Jaimal Yogis is an
award-winning journalist who spends a good deal of his spare time surfing and
traveling the globe. He has a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia
University and his work has been published in The Washington Post, The Chicago
Tribune, The Toronto Star, The Surfers Journal, Beliefnet, Tricycle, San
Francisco Magazine, and many others. Saltwater Buddha, which has been
internationally praised and is the subject of a forthcoming documentary, is his
first book, but he is currently working on a second while also on an
international book tour. Jaimal is also a longtime meditation practitioner and
Bali is one of his favorite places on earth. You can follow Jaimal through
Facebook, Twitter, or his blog www.jaimalyogis.com.
ZABLE, ARNOLD
Arnold Zable is an award
winning writer, storyteller and human rights advocate. His books include Jewels
and Ashes, which depicts his journey to Poland to trace his ancestry; the best
selling novel, Cafe Scheherazade, which traces the journeys of former refugees
who now meet in a seaside café in Melbourne; and The Fig Tree, a book of true
stories set in Greece, Eastern Europe, Melbourne and outback Australia. The Fig
Tree CD, a musical companion to the book won the National Folk Recording award
in 2004. His novel. Scraps of Heaven, is set in a post-war immigrant community
in Melbourne. His latest novel, Sea of Many Returns, is set on the Greek island
of Ithaca. Zable is the author of numerous feature articles, columns, short
stories, reviews and essays. His work regularly appears in The Age and a range
of journals. He was co-writer of the play Kan Yama Kan, in which asylum seekers
tell their stories.
Zable has worked in the
USA, Papua New Guinea, China, and many parts of Europe and Southeast Asia. He
speaks and writes with passion about memory and history, displacement and community.
He has performed as a storyteller throughout Australia, and has been a visiting
lecturer at Deakin, Melbourne, Monash, RMIT, La Trobe and Victoria
Universities. Zable is president of Melbourne International PEN, and a patron
of the Eastweb Foundation and the Victorian Storytellers Guild. He was recently
awarded a doctorate in the School of Creative Arts, Melbourne University.
ZARMAN, ROMI
Romi Zarman was born in
Padang, West Sumatra. His works have been published in several anthologies,
includingPelabuhan Desember (2007) and Kampung Dalam
Diri (2008). In 2006, he won a poetry prize from the Ministry of Culture
and Tourism. One of his poems was included as one of Pena Kencana
Foundation’s 60 best Indonesian poems. In 2009, he received a Literary Award
from the Andalas University’s Faculty of Letters.
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