Additional thanks go to my friends who offered much valuable input during the course of writing this noveclass="underline" Mira Lesmana, Riri Riza, Joko Anwar, Arifaldi Dasril; my invaluable research assistant, Ulin Ni’am Yusron; Robertus Robet, a good friend who explained the map of the 1998 student movement; and friends who supplied me with many of the additional resource materials I needed, including Siti Gretiani and Paramita Mohamad. To Todung Mulya Lubis, Rio Lassatrio, and Syarafina Vidyadhana, the words “thank you” is not enough for all the help they gave to me.
To John H. McGlynn of the Lontar Foundation, who published my first collection of stories in English, and who took on the task of translating this novel into English, I have undying respect but also must thank him for introducing my work to Pontas Literary and Film Agency, which now represents me abroad. At the agency, I give special thanks to the Maria Cardona Serra and Marina Penalva, and to Anna Soler Pont, founder of the agency, as well.
I proffer loving thanks to my parents, Willy and Mohammad Chudori, and my older sister and brother, Zuly Chudori and Rizal Bukhari Chudori, for having taught me at a very young age that literature is no less important than food, knowledge, and faith, as a major sustenance of life. And finally and forever, I give my thanks to Rain Chudori-Soerjoatmodjo, the sun that brightens my life, for it was because of her I began to write again.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
LEILA S. CHUDORI, was born in Jakarta in December 1962 and began to write at a young age. Her first stories were published when she was just twelve in several children’s magazines. She also published several collections of stories when just a teen.
Leila’s college education included stints at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific (United World Colleges) in Victoria, Canada, and Trent University, also in Canada, where she studied political science and comparative development studies. Even while going to school, however, she continued to write and publish in the Indonesian literary journals, Zaman, Horison, Matra, Sastra, and Menagerie as well as in Solidarity of the Philippines and Tenggara from Malaysia.
Her first collection of short stories for adults, Malam Terakhir, published by Pustaka Utama Grafiti in 1989, was later translated and published in German, under the title Die Letzte Nacht by Horlemman Verlag. Since 1989 she has worked at Tempo weekly news magazine, first as a journalist and later as an editor. She is also a film critic and an award-winning screenplay writer.
In 2009, Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia published Leila’s most recent collection of stories, this one titled 9 from Nadira. In 2013, the Lontar Foundation published a collection of translations of her stories under the title The Longest Kiss. In 2012, Leila published her first novel, Pulang [Home]. A year later, she was awarded the Khatulistiwa Literary prize for best prose work. Since then, between frequent appearances at literary events in Indonesia and abroad (Australia, Holland, France, and Malaysia), she has been working on two novels, one on the young Indonesian activists who “disappeared” in the months leading up to the downfall of President Soeharto in 1998, and the second a prequel to Home titled Namaku Alam [My name is Alam].
JOHN H. McGLYNN, lives in Jakarta where, in 1987, he co-founded the Lontar Foundation, the only organization in the world devoted to the publication of Indonesian literature in translation. Through Lontar, he has ushered into publication close to two hundred books on Indonesian literature and culture. Also through Lontar, he has produced twenty-four films on Indonesian writers and more than thirty films on Indonesian performance traditions.
McGlynn is the Indonesian country editor for Manoa, a literary journal published by the University of Hawaii, and for Words Without Borders, a virtual literary journal. He is a member of the International Commission of the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI), PEN International-New York, and the Association of Asian Studies. He is also a trustee of AMINEF, the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation, which oversees the Fulbright and Humphrey scholarship programs in Indonesia.
~ ~ ~
DEAR READERS,
Deep Vellum Publishing is a 501c3 nonprofit literary arts organization founded in 2013 with the threefold mission to publish international literature in English translation; to foster the art and craft of translation; and to build a more vibrant book culture in Dallas and beyond. We seek out literary works of lasting cultural value that both build bridges with foreign cultures and expand our understanding of what literature is and what meaningful impact literature can have in our lives.
Operating as a nonprofit means that we rely on the generosity of tax-deductible donations from individual donors, cultural organizations, government institutions, and foundations to provide a of our operational budget in addition to book sales. Deep Vellum offers multiple donor levels, including the LIGA DE ORO and the LIGA DEL SIGLO. The generosity of donors at every level allows us to pursue an ambitious growth strategy to connect readers with the best works of literature and increase our understanding of the world. Donors at various levels receive customized benefits for their donations, including books and Deep Vellum merchandise, invitations to special events, and named recognition in each book and on our website.
We also rely on subscriptions from readers like you to provide an invaluable ongoing investment in Deep Vellum that demonstrates a commitment to our editorial vision and mission. Subscribers are the bedrock of our support as we grow the readership for these amazing works of literature from every corner of the world. The more subscribers we have, the more we can demonstrate to potential donors and bookstores alike the diverse support we receive and how we use it to grow our mission in ever-new, ever-innovative ways.
From our offices and event space in the historic cultural district of Deep Ellum in central Dallas, we organize and host literary programming such as author readings, translator workshops, creative writing classes, spoken word performances, and interdisciplinary arts events for writers, translators, and artists from across the world. Our goal is to enrich and connect the world through the power of the written and spoken word, and we have been recognized for our efforts by being named one of the “Five Small Presses Changing the Face of the Industry” by Flavorwire and honored as Dallas’s Best Publisher by D Magazine.
If you would like to get involved with Deep Vellum as a donor, subscriber, or volunteer, please contact us at deepvellum.org. We would love to hear from you.
Thank you all. Enjoy reading.
Will Evans
Founder & Publisher
Deep Vellum Publishing
~ ~ ~
LIGA DE ORO ($5,000+)
Anonymous (2)
LIGA DEL SIGLO ($1,000+)
Allred Capital Management
Ben Fountain
Judy Pollock
Life in Deep Ellum
Loretta Siciliano
Lori Feathers
Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk & Joshua Frenk
Matthew Rittmayer