Literay Evening with Ayu Utami (English)
From 11 to 14 August, the European Association of Southeast Asian Studies holds
this year’s conference in Vienna. The hosting institutions are the University of
Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. It is a pleasure and honour for
EuroSEAS to announce that the distinguished social scientist Benedict Anderson
and the successful Indonesian author Ayu Utami will be keynote speakers at this
year’s conference.
With the intention to share the experience with a wider audience in the city of
Vienna, we have organised a Literary Evening with support from the Indonesian
Embassy in Vienna as well as from the Austrian-Indonesian Society, that will focus
on Ayu Utami’s works on Friday August 14, 2015 at 20:00 at the Café Prückel. The
author herself will read selected chapters from her novels in Bahasa Indonesia,
followed by English versions read by her Australian translator Pamela Allen. This is
an extraordinary opportunity to present selected jewels of contemporary
Indonesian literature in the presence of their author and English translator. The
event will be introduced and moderated by Werner Krauss, an internationally
renovated expert on Southeast Asian Studies.
Ayu Utami
Ayu Utami was born in 1968 in Bogor. She is one of Indonesia’s most prominent
representatives of the literary movement sastra wangi (fragrant literature). Ayu Utami’s
breakthrough as an author came with her first novel “Saman” (1998). It is precisely the
openness with which she handles social taboos which generated a rupture with the
previous Indonesian literature.
Ayu Utami’s literary works have been translated into many languages, including German,
and have won prizes around the world, including the Jakarta Arts Council Novel Prize
(1998) and the Prince Claus Award (2000). As an author, she has inspired many young
Indonesian women to write about topics that matter to them and their society. Some of her
most popular books are Saman, Larung and Si Parasit Lajang. This year Indonesia is the
guest of honour of the Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious
literary events.
We hope you can join us for this event.
With best regards,
The organizing team
Details
When: Friday August 14, 2015 at 20:00
Where: Café Prückl. Stubenring 24, 1010 Vienna
Free entrance
Facebook event: Literary Evening with the Indonesian writer Ayu Utami
Event contacts:
Daniela Paredes
phone 06802411787