Bøger udgivet af Dalang Publishing

The novel chronicles the lives of the people of Southwest Sumba, who are heavily influenced by the annual celebrations of Bau Nyale - the catching of sea worms at dawn - followed by the Pasola, an equestrian dexterity competition that involves throwing blunted javelins to unhorse opponents It is a story with strong cultural elements set in Indonesia's old-society background of the 1950s. Pasola is a journey into the values of family unity, kindness, and the importance of education.

When military violence destroys his childhood and his family, reluctant rebel Nazir and his peers rally against the greed-driven injustice. The setting is Alue Rambe, a rural village in Aceh, at the epicenter of one of the world's richest oil and gas fields. This beautifully written, insightful, powerful novel on a horrific topic portratys the lives of Acehnese who have been silenced. Nur records crimes against humanity perpetrated during the military operations in Aceh from 1976-2005. The book reveals his deep understanding of the impact of a sociopolitical conflict, its background, and eventual settlement. This elegant, nuanced translation conveys the author's grasp of the pain experienced by innocent people, as well as the misery that continues to seep from this gaping wound.Nur writes about the loneliness, isolation, and grief. His work gives voice to the untold stories of kidnappings, terror normalized, and military atrocities designed to shock civilians into fearful silence. Breaking through a historical amnesia, Nur's work joins a growing chorus of poets, historians, filmmakers, scholars, and global environmental rights lawyers producing new knowledge about the same phenomena from different angles, all of them calling for justice."Blood Moon Over Aceh" shows what happens when private greed and multinational corporations go unchecked and work with public institutions in the Indonesian state and military to create public policies that destroy the environment and the lives of ordinary citizens.

The story of Dasamuka, a historical novel by Junaedi Setiyono, unfolds in the Yogyakarta Sultanate, a region in Central Java, Indonesia. Set between 1811 and 1824, the narrative addresses not only Dutch colonialization but also the British interval in Dutch rule between 1811 and 1816.The Indonesian word dasamuka translates as ten faces, dasa meaning ten and muka meaning face. The author uses the word to metaphorically describe one of his main characters, a young, ambitious, talented nobleman whose diverse character traits enable him to maneuver among the many challenges life compels him to confront.Setiyono's narrator, Willem Kappers, is a Scottish scholar from the University of Edinburgh. Jilted by his fiancée, Kappers decides to move as far away from Scotland as he can. Since he has an uncle residing in the Yogyakarta Sultanate, he signs up for a research project of Dr. John Casper Leyden, a world-renowned Scottish scientist with a special interest in the Dutch East Indies. The voice of Kappers enables Setiyono to spotlight many issues that even today remain taboo subjects for Javanese.Kappers arrives on the island of Java in August 1811 by way of a Royal Navy warship sent to seize the island for Britain from the then reigning Dutch. Kappers's assignment is to learn the significance of the word bronjong, which describes an ancient form of capital punishment decreed by a Javanese court of law. His research brings him into close contact with the Javanese people, royalty as well as commoners. Since Kappers finds employment in the local colonial government office, the reader also becomes privy to the internal colonial modus operandi.During his fourteen-year sojourn in the sultanate, Kappers becomes a close friend of Den Wahyana, a Javanese nobleman who is politically engaged. Den Wahyana not only brings Kappers into the inner circle of Prince Diponegoro II, the leader of a group of controversial individuals known as the Tegalreja Group, but also introduces him to religious leaders, families of the palace staff, and Dasamuka. Through these relationships, Kappers becomes ensnared in the kidnapping of one of the sultan's concubines, who is also Dasamuka's wife.Recounting the couple's escape, Setiyono's lyrical voice transports the reader to the lush landscape of Central Java and into its rich culture, steeped in mysticism and religious doctrine. Setiyono brings the most powerful human emotions-love, betrayal, and greed-to the page as Kappers experiences an infatuation with a Javanese woman, indignation over the 1812 plunder of the Keraton by the British Army, and the fierce resistance of the Javanese people against colonial oppression and their own corrupt aristocracy.An engrossing read, Dasamuka invites us into a far-off culture while simultaneously revealing little-known historical facts told from opposing viewpoints.

Secret agent Sadeli, undercover merchant Umar Yunus, and ex-journalist Ali Nurdin experience love, loss, and sacrifice during Indonesia's revolution to overthrow Dutch colonialism.Early 1947: In a world still reeling from World War II, Indonesians revolt against Dutch attempts to recolonize their country. Major Sadeli of the Indonesian Army Intelligence travels to Singapore disguised as a sugar merchant, tasked with establishing naval and air routes to Sumatra and Java and securing weapons and radio equipment vital to the Indonesian revolution. His desire for Indonesia to be prosperously independent, independently prosperous, and no longer dependent on larger nations' pity, forces him to choose between personal happiness and commitment to a higher cause.

Pum is a loyal old dog who can smell colors. Along with Kwee, a pig with attitude, and seven-year-old Leksi, they tell the story of Mabel. As a young girl of the Dani tribe in Papua, Dutch missionaries take her to the city under the pretense of adopting her. Mabel quickly adapts to being domestic help and is eager to learn, but her request to attend school is denied. When Mabel returns to village life years later, her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Leksi, join her.The women work in the fields all day long, and Mabel sells the fruits and vegetables in the open market. Living in Papua is a battle between tradition and the new: for the Papuan people this means leaving the land and working in the gold mining operation on the Holy Mountain, home of the spirits of the Amungme people. The mining company takes the labor from many Papuans and only gives riches to very few. Mabel holds on to the traditional way of life, and dares to speak out against injustice during a fierce election.

A young Muslim woman and Protestant man find love during a religious conflict that threatens to consume the Pacific islands of Kei.At the end of Suharto's New Order, the Kei people hold on to their traditions as they flee the violence that divides Muslim from Christian and destroys the villages. Namira, a Muslim girl, works as a volunteer in a refugee camp when she meets Sala, a young Protestant man. Grounded in the islander's belief of "We drink from the same spring and eat from the same land, the land of Kei," the two fall in love amid the chaos that will soon separate them.Erni Aladjai earned her degree in French literature from the Hasannudin University in Sulawesi. She has worked as a journalist and news editor, and managed a learning institution. Her novel, Kei, took first place in the 2011 Jakarta Arts Council novel competition. Erni is also the author of Pesan Cinta dari Hujan (Messages of Love from the Rain, Insist Press, 2010) and Ning di Bawah Gerhana (Ning Under Eclipse, Bumen Pustaka Emas, 2013).Kei is a brave first novel exploring the troubled entanglement of two young lovers who find themselves on opposing sides in the sectarian violence that marked the dawning of the twenty-first century in the Moluccas. The Kei islands form the southern flank of the Spice Islands, the scattering of small islands whose cloves and nutmeg launched Christopher Columbus' ships, brought the Western world to its shores, and helped change the shape of history. Erni Aladjai invites the reader into a world marked by conflict and loss-heritage of the long era of colonial domination-but also, and importantly, writes of love, healing, and hope, rooted in the power of age-old local customs to make peace possible.-Sylvia Tiwon, Associate Professor, University of California at BerkeleyStrong in local color and portraying the rich culture of the island communities, Kei is about the events that are an unspoken part of Indonesian history. Erni Aladjai shows the reader that the horrors of the past need to be remembered, so they will not be repeated in the future. -Melani Budianta, Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies, University of IndonesiaKei tells the story of two young islanders, Namira and Sala, who discover love in the midst of violence. Though of different faiths, they are united in the strong belief that the best way to express love is to be selfless and care about the needs of others. A sincere heart is the only cure for dangerous times.-Josephina Maria Mantik, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia

A stark, honest portrayal of cursed love during the Japanese occupation of Java and the struggle for Indonesian independence.***Sulis is a young woman selling potions in Surabaya's harbor district. She meets Sujono, a coolie with dreams of becoming a freedom fighter, and whose passion for Matsumi, a geisha called to Java by a Japanese general, is destined to ruin all of them. In Potions and Paper Cranes, each tells the story of their lives during the end of World War II and Indonesia's transition from a Dutch colony to an independent republic.***Award-winning author Lan Fang began publishing short stories in teen magazines. She soon graduated to novels and became renowned for her intense first person narratives about women in ethnic and culture conflicts. Critics have praised Lan Fang for her ability to cross the borders of gender, race, and religion. She passed away at the age of forty-one, leaving behind nine novels and many short stories much loved by readers around the world.***Japan and Java clash and intertwine in Lan Fang's Potions and Paper Cranes, set in the old commercial center of Surabaya during the Second World War. Themes of domestic violence, misplaced romance, passionate sex, separation, and reunion drive the narrative, but it is the fate of women and children in war that is at the heart the novel. The story is told with lush and unashamedly melodramatic emotion yet remains memorably authentic. Ultimately Potions and Paper Cranes affirms the fragility of hatred, and the capacity of memory and love to endure a lifetime of separation. -George Quinn, Adjunct Professor, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National UniversityA sensitive translation of a novel that is by turns profoundly emotional and deeply violent.-Harry Aveling, Associate Professor of Asian Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne, AustraliaPotions and Paper Cranes breaks the popular romance mold through its narrative strategy to give each character a voice...making the fictional world more complex than just a black and white dichotomy. Underneath the novel is a critique against the chauvinistic, masculine nationalist paradigm that sanctions violence against women and breaks families. Written by an Indonesian female of Chinese descent about the WWII era, the novel opens up rich material to uncover issues of historical memory, representations, identity, and transnational engagement.-Melani Budianta, Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia

At the turn of the twentieth century, exotic dancer Mata Hari lived and loved by her own rules. ***My Name is Mata Hari tells the story of the infamous dancer and courtesan who began as Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, a young Dutch woman who married the older Rudolph MacLeod, a military officer, and traveled with him to the Dutch East Indies. Claiming her mother's Javanese ancestry, she changed her name to Mata Hari, Malay for "eye of the day."Mata Hari danced on stages across Europe and the Middle East, and took many high-ranking military and government officials as her lovers. At the end of a tumultuous life, convicted for espionage during the First World War yet sustained by her pride, she said, "I am a genuine courtesan. And I am a dancer in the true sense."***Remy Sylado is the pen name of noted Indonesian novelist, poet, playwright, and musician, Yapi Tambayong. He also wrote the screenplay for the award-winning film, Ca Bau Kan (2002). Novelist and journalist Dewi Anggraeni delivers a creative rendition of startling depth and sensitivity for the first of Sylado's novels to appear in English.

In "Only a Girl" three generations of Chinese women struggle for identity against a political backdrop of the World Depression, World War II, and the Indonesian Revolution. Nanna, the matriarch of the family, strives to preserve the family's traditional Chinese values while her children are eager to assimilate into Dutch colonial society. Carolien, Nanna's youngest daughter, is fixated with the advantages to be gained through adopting a western lifestyle. She is proven wrong through her turbulent and ultimately failed marriage and by the consequences of raising her daughter in the Dutch culture. Jenny's western upbringing puts her at a disadvantage in the newly independent Indonesian state where Dutch culture is no longer revered. The unique ways in which Nanna, Carolien and Jenny face their own challenges reveal the complex tale of Chinese society in Indonesia between 1930 and 1952.