TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Reda Gaudiamo’s journey from aspiring writer to London Book Fair star
Reda Gaudiamo (Photo by A
Change Size
Reda Gaudiamo (Photo by A. Kurniawan Ulung)
Author Reda Gaudiamo hopes those who are passionate about writing do not give up easily on their dreams.
Reda, who is also known as a one-half of folk duo AriReda, has just returned from the United Kingdom, where she underwent a two-month residency in the historic city of Norwich and promoted her children’s book, The Adventures of Na Willa, at the London Book Fair in Olympia, London, in March.
Launched by Birmingham-based independent publisher Emma Press in March, the book is a translation of Na Willa, which first hit bookstores across Indonesia in 2012.
Filled with Cecillia Hidayat’s illustrations, it tells about how Na Willa, a bright and outspoken little girl, deals with the ups and downs of life.
Living in the suburbs in Surabaya, East Java, the 5-year-old girl spends her time running after trains with her best friend, Dul, and going down to the market with her Javanese mother, Mak.
She wants to be free amid people who tell her what to do and who to be. She does not want to be just a girl. She does not want to look just like her mother, or just like her Chinese-Indonesian father, Pak. She wants to be both and more.
The Adventures of Na Willa is unlike an ordinary children’s book full of happiness and moral messages.
The book, for example, raises social issues, such as racism. Na Willa, for example, often becomes an object of ridicule because she is of Chinese descent. It also tells of a tragedy.
Despite the positive response from readers in Indonesia and the UK, the children’s book was initially written for parents, not children, reveals Reda.
On many occasions, she often says Na Willa is not a children’s book. However, many called it a children’s book because the main character was a child, with illustrations appealing to children.
“Because I’m tired of telling them, [I then said], OK, it is a children’s book,” the 56-year-old said, laughing.
Reda said the main message behind the story was to make parents pay more attention to their children.
The idea to write it crossed her mind when she was extremely annoyed by mothers sitting next to their children at a table but they were busy on their gadgets. When the children tried to speak to their mothers, they turned their head, but their eyes were still on their cellphone.
“Please chat with your children,” the soft-spoken woman said.
The book also criticizes overprotective parents, such as those who easily panic when they know that their children have friends who embrace a different faith, and that they do not get the freedom they deserve.
For Reda, 2018 was full of surprises. In that year, she learned Emma Press was interested in translating Na Willa. In addition, the news reached her just two weeks after the National Book Committee announced her selection to join the residency program in Norwich.
When she was in the UK in October, her happiness doubled after she was informed that she was one of 12 Indonesian writers selected to represent Indonesia in the Cultural Program of the London Book Fair 2019.
Reda said she could would never forget the children during her residency because they expressed huge enthusiasm about the Indonesian cultural content when she read them the Adventures of Na Willa.
“They, for example, really wanted to see kue cucur [rice flour and palm-sugar cake],” she said, laughing.
In the UK, she also had a chance to meet Emma Wright, the owner of Emma Press.
Reda was surprised again when Wright said Emma Press was also interested in translating two other books; Aku, Meps dan Beps (I, Meps and Beps) and Tentang Kita (About Us), an anthology.
Reda said 75 percent of Na Willa was not fiction because it was inspired by her childhood memories in Surabaya in the 1960s, including the way her mother raised her.
Therefore, for those often met with challenges when trying to write, she advised them to simply write from their experiences.
“You can talk about what happened today or even what happened 35 years ago but it is still stuck in your head. Start from there,” she said.
“I always believe that the things closest to us are very authentic and that it is supposed to be very easy to write.”
Reda added that a coach was also necessary for those who aspired to be a writer and the best coach were the books of authors they admired.
From their work, she said, aspiring writers could learn how their idols transformed an idea into a written work, chose words and wrote sentences. The more books they read, the more writing techniques they can learn.
“My coach is novels by [late renowned author] NH Dini. I’m amazed by her writing style,” she said.
Reda understands that budding writers are usually worried about negative reviews and judgment.
She said such feelings were normal but should not discourage them.
“My mother never read my written work. She finally learned I was a writer after her friends told her that they had read my articles in Gadis magazine,” she said.
“As of today, I never show my writings to my husband before they are complete.”
