Eka Kurniawan: (Illustration Mufty Fairuz)

Eka Kurniawan is a literary star who is shining bright. In March the author won the first World Readers Award for this novel Beauty is A Wound, which has been translated into 24 languages. Just prior to this, Eka was named one of 13 longlist nominees for the prestigious 2016 Man Booker International Prize for Man Tiger, which tells of a ghostly tiger at the center of a gripping murder case, now translated into five languages. Away from his successful public persona, the 40-year-old father of one enjoys the simple things in life; he is amused when reading this horoscope, attends K-pop concerts and likes to sing “Seal It With A Kiss” in the shower.

I am …
Easily bored.

My bad habit …
Procrastinating, rather than doing my work.

Best trait …
Calm.

Tea or coffee …
Coffee.

If I only had one book to read …
Don Quixote (by Cervantes).

If I could change one thing about myself …
More disciplined. I am a bit reckless, easily tempted by new things, and easily bored by what I’m currently doing.

Last movie I watched …
Darah dan Doa (The Long March, Usmar Ismail).

A foreign language I want to learn ...
Arabic. I’m envious of my father who learned it by himself.

Diary or blog …
Just a blog, ekakurniawan.com

My love letters …
My books are my love letters.

My favorite writer ...
Plenty. If I have to mention only one, it’s Knut Hamsun (the Norwegian author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature). His works convinced me to become a writer.

Last book I read …
Menebus Dosa (Penance) by Aman Datuk Madjoindo.

Ghosts, believe in them or not …
I can’t say I believe because I can’t prove they exist, I can’t say I don’t believe either because of the same reason. But I like the idea of ghosts — mysterious, scary but tempting curiosity.

A superhero power I wish for …
If I was a superhero, my wish would be to have a vanishing power that allowed me to escape from being part of the world from time to time.

Something that makes me nervous …
Schedules and all things timerelated.

One thing I would change about the past ...
I want to force my father to take care of his health.

My question to myself in the future …
“What are our children like?”

Three famous dream dinner guests ...
Taeyeon, Im Yoona and Seohyun [of South Korean girl band Girls’ Generation/SNSD]. Can I invite all nine [members]?

Three favorite internet sites …
Gmail.com, wikipedia.org and bookdepository.com

Facebook, Twitter or Instagram …
Don’t like any of them.

Best advice someone gave me …
“If there is book that you want to read but no one has written it, then you have to write it” by Toni Morrison.

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