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Frankfurt Book Fair - THE RISE OF INDONESIAN LITERATURE
For kids: The Indonesian series of bilingual books for kids was bought by a Chinese publisher
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For kids: The Indonesian series of bilingual books for kids was bought by a Chinese publisher.
Indonesia may be marking another success at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, but its presence next year is hanging in thin air.
Chinese publisher Susan Zhu looked happy. The foreign cooperation office editor of the Guangdong Education Publishing House, billed among China’s top 100 publishers, just signed a deal to buy the rights to Kesaint Blanc’s bilingual series for children aged 3 to 7.
“I read this already. I think the story is really interesting and the illustrations are amazing. This book would hopefully be great for the Chinese market,” she said in English while showing one of the books, Kula Cula Follows Himself.
The colorful book by the Kesaint Blanc team and author Andy Bianchi of England introduces children to the Javan rhinoceros in the Indonesian and English languages, with added details about the endangered species — from its food and habitat to its enemies — as well as related vocabularies in six languages.
Book deal: Chinese publisher Susan Zhu (left) poses with Laura Prinsloo (right) of Indonesia’s publishing house Kesaint Blanc after buying the rights to a series of bilingual books for kids as witnessed by Ahmad Saufi, the Indonesian Embassy’s Attaché for Education and Culture in Germany, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The book was just one of the 72 Indonesian titles sold to foreign publishers at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, which ran from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23. Twenty deals were signed on the spot. Overall, Indonesians this year sold a total of 148 book rights, including those sold in London, Bologna, Beijing and the Indonesia International Book Fairs.
Borobudur literary agency director Thomas Nung Atasana said in 2014 Indonesia managed to sell about 60 titles and last year the number rose to 133, including 80 sold at the Frankfurt Book Fair when Indonesia was guest of honor.
He said this year’s participation was a success considering Indonesia only came with 10 publishers and a literary agent, as well as 11 writers, 10 performers and several chefs. Overall, it presented some 90 events, including those involving more than two dozen special guests and speakers from 12 different countries.
Last year, Indonesia brought 32 publishers, a literary agent, 70 writers and hundreds of performing artists and musicians, as well as a dozen Indonesian celebrity chefs.
At this year’s fair, Nung said Indonesian publishers conducted 275 meetings with their counterparts from Australia, China, England, India, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan and the US. Some had shown serious interest, requesting pdf copies of 82 titles and 15 series.
He said an ebook distributor from Brazil would also distribute 70 titles from the Lontar Foundation — an independent organization that in the past 29 years has focused on translating and publishing Indonesian literary works.
“The big difference after being the fair’s guest of honor is that this time around people look for us. We just sit and they come,” said Nung, who is also involved in Indonesia’s National Book Committee’s literary promotion for international rights and licensing.
Indonesia’s success, he said, also made neighboring countries envious — since, unlike Indonesia, they do not have big-name writers.
“We have a long list of world class and award-winning writers — from Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Andrea Hirata, Ayu Utami to Laksmi Pamuntjak and Eka Kurniawan,” Nung said.
“They probably have lots of money and support from their governments, but do not have strong content like ours.”
Indonesia’s presence at the fair was largely due to the committee set up by the Education and Culture Ministry earlier this year with the aim of building on the foundation established by the country’s successful presentation in Frankfurt last year. At this year’s fair, the ministry and the committee got added support from the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf).
Since its formation, the committee, the members of which include experienced publishers, has worked aggressively to promote Indonesian literature at numerous book fairs and has instigated translation grants for Indonesian titles and sent Indonesian writers to participate in residency programs overseas.
John McGlynn of the Lontar Foundation said Indonesia’s performance at this year’s fair was strong as shown through, among other things, the number of book rights sold.
Visitors and other countries, he said, were impressed with Indonesia’s presence because often after a country has been a guest of honor it does not make another significant effort.
“Visitors are happy, including [Frankfurt Book Fair director] Juergen Boos, who praised us for bringing cultural events to the fair,” McGlynn said.
The committee’s chairperson, Laura Prinsloo, said Indonesia’s continuous participation at the fair may not only help further promote books and authors but also aid the country’s artists and designers, such as by taking advantage of the fair’s new addition, the ART+, to sell their books.
“Our food promotions were getting great responses and hopefully this will encourage our chefs to publish cookbooks and their recipes will not only last longer but become well known,” she said.
Favorite: Rows of books are on display for visitors of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The five-day fair, which saw around 277,000 visitors, including 142,300 trade visitors, established its status as the international publishing industry’s biggest fair with 7,100 exhibitors from more than 100 countries.
Indonesia’s presence at the fair also brought foreign publishers to the country, as seen in the participation of 14 countries in the recent Indonesia International Book Fair in Jakarta.
Laura said foreign publishers started coming to Indonesia to buy book rights thanks to the recognition gained at international book fairs like Frankfurt’s.
“Our achievement this year is much bigger than last year. We’re waiting until the end of December to find out the final figure [of book rights sold] since more meetings and negotiations are still being planned,” she said.
However, she said Indonesian participation in next year’s book fair is still uncertain.
The committee would still have to meet with the government to find out whether Indonesia’s participation at the fair would involve the Education and Culture Ministry only, or also Bekraf.
“So for next year, it’s still unclear. Our hope is that with the data, it’s clear that the sales of Indonesian book rights are on the rise. Our presence here at the fair is important to get our books published in other countries,” Laura says.
She said the Frankfurt Book Fair’s vice president Claudia Kaiser has suggested a reception for all ASEAN member countries be held at next year’s fair, which will be great for making their books visible to the world’s publishing market.
“But with the uncertain situation we’re facing right now it will be hard to make plans: whether we’re going to take part or not — not to mention the costs. If we have plenty of time, we can make efficient and effective plans. Last minute decisions will only cost us more while the potential is big and it makes us all excited,” she said.
“I hope the government sees that this [participation] is truly important.”
— Photos by JP/Stevie Emilia
