SEA-lebrating Our Literature

Jennifer Lindsay

Jennifer Lindsay is an award-winning writer, translator, researcher and cultural ambassador whose breadth of work reflects her deeply lived understanding of Indonesia, where she has spent nearly half her life.

Since arriving in Indonesia in 1970 and studying Javanese gamelan music and Javanese and Indonesian languages, Jennifer’s positions have included Cultural Attaché at the Australian Embassy, Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, and Project Leader filming and cataloguing historic manuscripts at the Sultan’s palace in Yogyakarta.

Jennifer has translated many literary works from Indonesian into English and has twice been short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Translation Prize. In 2019, the Governor of Yogyakarta, Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, awarded Jennifer the prestigious Anugerah Budaya, a lifetime achievement award for her contribution to the study and promotion of Indonesian culture.

Now an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Culture, History and Language at the Australian National University.

Alien Fawilia

Alien reads anything and everything, but thinks graphic novel is the most beautiful form of art. She is the co-owner of Transit Bookstore, a highly curated bookstore in Pantai Indak Kapuk, North Jakarta. She works nearly 24/7 for the bookstore and in her free time she wonders why Transit is not going viral.