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Jakarta Post

Sapardi Djoko Damono's 'Hujan Bulan Juni' third novel launched

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, March 18, 2018

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Sapardi Djoko Damono's 'Hujan Bulan Juni' third novel launched Sapardi Djoko Damono at the launch of his seven books at Bentara Budaya Jakarta. The event coincided with the celebration of the poet’s 77th birthday. (JP/Bagas Rahadian)

W

riter and poet Sapardi Djoko Damono launched on Friday the third novel of the Hujan Bulan Juni (Rain in June) trilogy, Yang Fana Adalah Waktu (Time is Mortal). 

The first novel of the trilogy, Hujan Bulan Juni (HBJ), was released in June 2015. Meanwhile the second one, Pingkan Melipat Jarak (Pingkan Folds the Distance), was launched in March last year, which was coincided with his 77th birthday celebration.

HBJ, which was originally a poetry collection when it was created in 1989, has been turned into a song, picture story, novel, coloring book and a feature film that premiered in November 2017.

The trilogy tells the story of a human relationship that involves cultural and religious differences. The main characters, Pingkan and Sarwono, tackle these social issues together, resulting in a meaningful story of affection. 

The third novel also includes a small book containing poetry for Pingkan written by Sarwono. "Sarwono wrote them; I only helped him do it," Sapardi told Antara in Jakarta on Friday.

Read also: Sapardi Djoko Damono reveals why he became a poet

The launch event also featured a poetry reading by Sapardi accompanied with a song performance by Nyak Ina "Ubiet" Raseuki. Other artists, namely Arini Kumara, Umar Muslim and Tatyana Soebianto, also participated in the event by singing the writer's poetry.

Born on March 20, 1940, Sapardi has published several poetry books, essays, works of fiction as well as original and translated dramas since 1969.

Among his accomplishments are awards from the Freedom Institute in 2003, Akademi Jakarta in 2012, Habibie Award in 2016 and a lifetime award in culture from the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Indonesia (UI) in 2017.

He had also received the Cultural Award (Australia, 1978), Anugerah Puisi Putera (Malaysia, 1984) and SEA-WRITE Award (Thailand, 1988). 

The retired UI professor currently teaches and assists postgraduate students of UI, Jakarta Arts Institute, Diponegoro University and the Indonesian Arts Institute Surakarta with their thesis and disertations. (kes)

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