Part of our monthlong focus on Indonesian poetry sees the PTC collaborating with the Newham Poetry Group for our first-ever poetry workshop in a bowling club. PTC's Commissioning Editor, the poet Edward Doegar and senior SOAS lecturer Soe Tjen Marching will facilitate this collaborative translation workshop.

Putu Oka Sukanta was born in Singaraja on 29 Juli 1939. He has published six collections of poetry including Selat Bali [The Balinese Straits], and Bulan Di Atas Belo [The Moon above Belo]. His also published six collections of short stories and several novels. Many of his books have been translated into English, German, French and Balinese.

Putu Oka has made documentary films and written books about the Indonesian genocide in 1965-66. He has received several awards, including the NEMIS Prize from Chile, International Human Rights Watch New York in 2012, and Herb-Feith Human Rights Education Australia in 2016.

Translator Soe Tjen Marching is a writer, academic and a composer of avant-garde music from Indonesia. She has won several awards for In 1998, she won a national competition for Indonesian Contemporary Composers held by the German Embassy. In 2010, her work has been selected as one of the two best compositions on the International Competition for avant-garde composers held Singapore. Marching is also a creative writer and a Senior Lector in Indonesian at SOAS University in London. She has published several novels and academic books.

This workshop is in collaboration with University of East London, Sarah Maguire book archive at UEL, CNR (Centre of Narrative Research at UEL) and the Newham Poetry Group.

This event was made possible by assistance from the National Organising Committee for Indonesia as Market Focus Country at the 2019 London Book Fair.