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Andrea Hirata: The continuing literary adventures
Andrea Hirata stands by Adelaide’s monument to the first settlers, who arrived in 1836 from England
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Andrea Hirata stands by Adelaide’s monument to the first settlers, who arrived in 1836 from England. (JP/Cynthia Webb)
Not much explanation is needed for Andrea Hirata, author of Indonesia’s bestseller Laskar Pelangi (The Rainbow Troops).
The book, based on his years of primary school education, has now been published in no less than 78 countries in many different languages. It has also increased the number of tourists visiting his island home, Belitung, by at least 1,500 percent.
The English translation has been published by Random House, in Australia and New Zealand, and has been on the bookstore shelves since just before Christmas 2012. It is currently their “Book of the Month” and has a sticker on it proclaiming this privilege, with a Random House representative saying that sales so far are “respectable for a first novel from a new author”.
In late February Andrea appeared at the Perth Writers Festival and in the first week of March he was a guest of Writers’ Week, part of the Adelaide Festival, where he had two appearances in panel discussions. Andrea had a full schedule during the four days in Adelaide, as he was also invited to speak at a fund-raising luncheon and to students at Adelaide University and Flinders University.
The modest Andrea is still wondering how all this happened, and whether it’s a dream from which he will awake. He doesn’t ever credit his own simple and delightfully expressive turn of phrase, as any contribution to his success story.
Andrea credits his incredible literary journey to his American agent, Kathleen Anderson, who discovered him when he was attending the famous writers program at the University of Iowa. She contacted one of the top US publishers, Farrar, Straus & Giroux who were immediately interested in The Rainbow Troops and the rest, as they say, is history.
Andrea said that because of the prominence of this publishing house, other publishers from all over the world emulate what they publish and that is how his story is now being read in 78 countries around the world.
Andrea wrote his first draft as a gift for his beloved teacher, Ibu Muslimah, in 2005. He never intended to send it to a publisher. However, his own copy vanished from his room in a student residential area. To this day, he doesn’t know who took it and sent it to the Indonesian publisher. He has asked everyone he could think of, even recently questioning his ex-workmates at Telkom. No one has ever confessed.
In Adelaide, Andrea was generous with his time, meeting groups of Indonesian students studying at two universities in the cities.
Sitting in a companionable circle on the grass beside the River Torrens, which flows through this very English-style city, he gave them the benefit of all he has learned of the writing /publishing trade.
He encouraged them to keep their own “voice”, and in their writing style, not to try to be too clever and dazzle people with style and vocabulary, but keep it simple. This approach has certainly worked for him.
“I have been to so many big events that I have learned something! The treasure of a writer is to maintain their own style,” Andrea said.
“Writing is taking a risk, and it is actually fighting invisible and invincible enemies. They are over-confidence, stupidity, expectation and narcissism.”
A recently published review of the book by Charles R. Larson, emeritus professor of literature at the American University, Washington, DC, reads as follows: “This is such a major work, that it will quickly become a cherished […] around the world. I adore The Rainbow Warriors. How fantastic, to begin the New Year with such a memorable story.”
The February ninth edition of the prestigious journal, The Economist reviewed the book, saying “This is a harming and uplifting book. It makes for a refreshing break from the middle-class navel gazing of most Western fiction.”
While in Adelaide, Andrea met Tom Keneally, one of the foremost authors in Australia, who is perhaps most famous, as the author of the book Schindler’s Ark, on which Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List was based.
“He is such a disarmingly charming young man. I am fascinated by his capacity to write such a work inspired by where he comes from. He comes from an unspoiled background and it shows. It is indicative of how many people of dignity and wit are suppressed by society — a waste of potential caused by restrictions in their society. It is good to meet such a vivid escapee from all of that. It is a beautiful literary work,” Tom Keneally said of Andrea.
From Adelaide, Andrea flew to Europe to attend the Berlin Book Fare because The Rainbow Troops was nominated for a major award there. From Berlin, he’s going on to Leipzig (Germany), then to Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Paris and Amsterdam, for personal appearances and meetings as versions of the book are being published in those countries. Before coming to Australia, he visited Ankara, Turkey, by invitation of the Indonesian students studying there.
All this travel has probably upset his bio-rhythms, or he’s still stuck in jetlag, because he has become an insomniac in the last few months.
He also mentioned that with all this traveling, he had been missing watching a film on his DVD player every day. He is looking forward to returning to his home village on Belitung Island in April. It’s been an exhausting schedule for him, for quite a long time now, and it’s probably not over yet.
