An Australian newspaper has called me an accidental author and I kind of agree with that. I was born in a poor, obscure little tin mining village, on Belitong Island, South Sumatra, Indonesia, in an era when almost everyone in my village was uneducated. It’s said that not so long ago, 1/3 of the world's demand for tin was supplied by Belitong Island alone, but we live in terrible poverty.
My father was a tin miner. We, native Belitong children, didn’t even have an elementary school to go to. A 15 years old girl initiated a school, gathered us, 10 children, from tin mining pits, and provided education for us. The school was called Laskar Pelangi (The Rainbow Troop) school. I was one of the 10 children.
Later on, I migrated to Java, working odd jobs, tending a shop, and working at a photocopy shop. I ended up sorting letters at a post office outskirt of Jakarta. In 2004, I volunteered for the Tsunami relief efforts in Sumatra. Therein I saw schools destroyed by the tsunami, which made me realize that everything we had could vanish in the blink of an eye. Therein also I remembered my old elementary school, my 15-year-old teacher, and my classmates.
2. When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
I remembered sitting down and started writing everything that I could remember about my elementary school days. The kindness and sincerity of my young teacher who sacrificed everything when nobody, even the government, cared about her. We fought hard for our education. Without realizing it, in 3 weeks, I have written 800 pages.
I planned to print it out and sent it to my teacher and classmates as a gift. It wasn’t meant to be published at all. It was beyond my wildest dream that I could be a writer. Before printing it out, a friend borrowed my laptop, found the manuscript, stole it, and sent it to a small publisher, without me knowing about it. A week later the publisher contacted me. After a long discussion with him, I decided to publish it with the title The Rainbow Troops.
I just couldn’t believe that until today The Rainbow Troops has been translated into more than 25 languages, published by major publishers, distributed in 120 countries, and printed out continuously more than 55 times. It’s also the winner of the New York Book Festival 2015 and Buchawards, Germany, 2015. It’s said The Rainbow Troops is Indonesia’s book of all time and Indonesia's first internationally best-selling book.
I am so happy that the novel has also reached Indian readers. It's very encouraging for me to receive a lot of positive responses from Indian readers, from a country that has so many brilliant authors, Noble laureates in literature, and a long literary history. What also makes me so happy about becoming a writer is, that now I stop watching soap operas and start reading books. I guess I am liberated.
So, if you ask me when I decided to be a writer, you can see that it has never been a decision for me.
4. Is being a writer financially stable in my country?
I would say, it’s not. Firstly, Indonesia is one of the world's lowest readership countries. Secondly, it’s not just once or twice that I have been offered to buy my own novels by the street vendors, pirated copies, half price, without them knowing that I am the writer of the novels.
There are so many of them. I love Truman Capote, Anthonio Skarmeta, Gabriel Gracia Marquez, James Smiley, Vikash Swarup, Toni Morisson, etc. In particular, I really love Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood as it inspires me how to write creative non-fiction.
In 2009, I built Museum Kata Andrea Hirata, Indonesia’s first-and so far, only-literally museum, in my home village, on Belitong Island. Just happened, recently I received a book titled The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni as a gift from my Indian friend in Jakarta. I love it! The Palace of Illusions is one of a few selected books recommended by the museum. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is now also my favourite Author.
I like to be able to write literary works for the beauty of literary works themselves, and at the same time, for them to have a real impact on people’s lives. We native Belitong islanders have suffered from injustice, inequality, and corporate social irresponsibility. I believe what happened to my childhood friends and me in my village, still happens now in the corners of the world. Addressing this issue in my books to advocating the right to education for children living in poverty, is always the true inspiration for me.
- Andrea Hirata (Instagram)
- Interviewed by Manjul Yadav
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