A new addition to Indonesia’s cohort of novelists has just emerged.

Her name is Raisa Affandi, and she is just 11 years old.

Budding writer: Eleven-year-old Raisa Affandi discusses her book at her home in Jakarta. JP/Deanna Ramsay

Raisa’s first novel was published a little over a week ago. Titled Mimi Bo and the Missing Diary, the exuberant and inventive work is set in a sometimes dreamlike fantasyland.

One part Harry Potter for its school setting amidst student intrigue, one part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for its obsession with sweets and one part surrealist illusion a la the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, Mimi Bo and the Missing Diary — at 195 pages — is a remarkable achievement for someone so young.

And, the novel was written in English.

After spending some time with Raisa it is clear she is passionate about reading and writing, her room filled with books and remnants of her own compositions.

When asked what had motivated her to embark upon writing a novel, Raisa said she was inspired by her younger sister Kyla. Raisa started writing Mimi Bo and the Missing Diary in 2008 right after Kyla was born and based the main character, Mimi Bo, on her beloved sister.

Mimi Bo in the novel is a precocious child with a mind advanced well beyond her 3 months. As Raisa herself describes the work, “I just wanted to make a book about babies because I knew the pictures would be cute because babies are cute.”

But, the work is not just about babies; it is about children with an awareness of the world around them that is much deeper than the adults in the story imagine. For example, the babies cleverly use crying as a tactic to achieve other ends.

When asked about the process of novel writing, which took her about a year, Raisa said, “At first I had no idea what the story was going to be about except there were these babies who were special at this special school. Then I just started adding more ideas and more ideas until the end.”

The book, adorned with vibrant watercolor drawings, is set at a school that is a virtual paradise for infants (and adults for that matter), featuring storks as public transportation, a rainbow club that
meets during storms, an array of decadent sweet things to eat and a baby disco.

There is also a mystery involving, as the title connotes, a missing diary, together with lively descriptions of sites borne out of a child’s vivid imagination: healthy food that tastes likes strawberry ice cream, a door that leads to the tops of pillowy clouds and chocolate fountains and lemonade swimming pools.

Raisa’s parents said at first they were not even aware that she was writing a book until one day they saw her busily, and happily, typing away on the computer and asked her what she was doing.

Now, Raisa says she imagines her initial work as part of a series, each book set in the following month of the school year. She has almost completed book two, which takes a somewhat different turn, featuring “a monster at the school [that] turns out to be a good person”, secret agents and various sleuthing activities.

She also invented a baby language for her book, Baahian, citing again her little sister’s inspiration. Clearly, Raisa’s interest lies in language; she is fluent in both English and Indonesian.

Raisa spent four of her formative years living in Cambridge, England, while her father worked on his PhD and her mother an M.A., and English is essentially her first language.

Currently living in Jakarta and attending an international school with instruction in both Indonesian
and English, Raisa still prefers to read English-language books, saying she especially enjoys reading the Harry Potter series, The Necromancer and horror stories or “anything creepy”.

Her parents also say that she will even pick up their books and peruse them, whether a text on economics or a work on probability theory.

Raisa’s novel seems very much to have been a family project, as it is most significantly a token of love for her younger sister. And, Raisa’s mother helped to edit the book and her father is lending a hand with publicity. A cousin even worked on the layout and design.

Raisa’s father admitted he had harbored a longtime dream of being a writer, and has obviously helped to nurture his daughter’s interest in the pursuit.

The proud father said “the book is like a labor of love”, and that it clearly is.

One can only hope the prolific Raisa continues with more of these labors, sitting at the desk she shares with her mother and serving as an inspiration for other aspiring young novelists in the country.

Raisa said she wants to be a writer when she grows up. She already is.

Mimi Bo and the Missing Diary

Available at Aksara bookstores in Kemang, Cilandak Townsquare, or Plaza Indonesia.

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