Lit in Translation

All prizes Indonesia

Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa

Indonesia · Since 2001 · For books in Indonesian

Awarded in Jakarta to the best Indonesian-language books of the past year. Listed here: the prose award (novels and story collections) to 2021, the prose books that won the single award of 2002 and 2003, the fiction award of 2004, and the novel and short story collection awards since 2025. The shortlist is the final five.

The writer and film director Richard Oh founded the prize in 2001 with Takeshi Ichiki, then head of the Plaza Senayan shopping centre in Jakarta, as the Khatulistiwa Literary Award; it later took the Indonesian name Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa. Its aim was a purse large enough to let writers keep writing. Each year juries read the books published in the previous twelve months, announced a top ten and then a top five in each category, and named the winners at a ceremony at Plaza Senayan. The first editions gave one award for the best book of any genre; prose and poetry were later judged separately, with an extra category for young or first-time writers in some years. After Richard Oh's death in 2022 the prize paused, and a foundation in his name revived it in 2025 with separate awards for the novel, the short story collection and poetry.

Winners in English
3 of 25
Years on this site
2002–2026

Winners and shortlist

Stage

2026 10 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Winner

    Ikhtiar yang Tak Benar-Benar

    Title translated by AI:“An Effort Not Quite Made”

    Nukila Amal

    Novel · 229 pages · Family, Satire

    AI-generated summary:Juna, a perfectionist writer and master procrastinator, keeps putting off finishing his historical novel, and much else in his life, as his marriage to Kin strains.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Winner

    Hantu Ulang-alik

    Title translated by AI:“Commuter Ghost”

    Ratri Ninditya

    Short stories · 180 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories of city dwellers, many of them working women, worn down by jobs, expectations and grief: a woman who only wants to cook instant noodles in peace, an unappreciated restaurant worker who finds a way to get even.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Katri

    Adeste Adipriyanti

    Novel · Historical, Politics

    AI-generated summary:Three days after her husband disappears in 1965, eighteen-year-old Katri, seven months pregnant, is shot at close range by soldiers, survives, and is moved from camp to camp and prison to prison.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Alok

    Arie Saptaji

    Novel · 139 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:Pratiwi grieves for her elder brother Santoso, swallowed by the southern sea off Java, and a gift for reaching the unseen world draws her into Javanese mysticism.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Jose Kecil dalam Dirimu dan Cerita-Cerita Lainnya

    Title translated by AI:“The Little Jose in You and Other Stories”

    Kaisar Deem

    Short stories · 142 pages · Politics

    AI-generated summary:Simply told stories, rooted in the culture of Makassar, in which the shadow of social conflict and Indonesia's military past hangs over private suffering.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Seakan Bisa Dipisahkan

    Title translated by AI:“As If They Could Be Separated”

    Ruhaeni Intan

    Novel · Family, Coming of age

    AI-generated summary:Sofia, angry at a mother who gives in while her father slowly wrecks their home, runs away to live alone in another city, where she is reminded of what family means.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Waktu Itu Hujan Rintik, dan Aku Merasa Asing dan Sendiri

    Title translated by AI:“It Was Drizzling Then, and I Felt Strange and Alone”

    T. Agus Khaidir

    Short stories · 131 pages

    AI-generated summary:Linked stories steeped in Malay culture and religion, about lonely, troubled people in rain and darkness, where family life, killings and unexplained deaths end in mystery.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Cara Kita Menghadapi Kehilangan

    Title translated by AI:“How We Face Loss”

    Yetti A.KA

    Short stories · 150 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:Nineteen stories of women and men living with loss in its many forms: death, family wounds, estrangement, unfinished love and losses that have no name.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Misi Menggagalkan Doa

    Title translated by AI:“Mission to Thwart a Prayer”

    Yoga Palwaguna

    Short stories · 145 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:Stories, some everyday and some futuristic, about faith, family and the rules people live by, among them a child who sets out to thwart the prayers of an overly pious mother.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist

    Tersesat Setelah Terlahir Kembali

    Title translated by AI:“Lost After Being Born Again”

    Yoga Zen

    Novel · 169 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:An outsider married into a matrilineal Minangkabau family in inland Sumatra is pushed to join the men's boar hunts, which lead him to obsession, local myths and a massacre in the past.

2025 10 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Winner

    Duri dan Kutuk

    Title translated by AI:“Thorns and Curses”

    Cicilia Oday

    Novel · Coming of age, Speculative

    AI-generated summary:A teenage boy spies on the new neighbour who has turned an abandoned house next door into a lush plant shop, a woman whose body seems to sprout thorns and roots.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Winner

    Akhir Sang Gajah di Bukit Kupu-kupu

    Title translated by AI:“The End of the Elephant on Butterfly Hill”

    Sasti Gotama

    Short stories · 156 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories of people on the margins, many of them women: someone made to kill a beloved elephant, a doomsday sect leader who escapes trial for sexual abuse, a woman who keeps loving the man who sells and robs her.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Matthes

    Alan TH

    Novel · 442 pages · Historical

    AI-generated summary:Benjamin Frederik Matthes, a stammering Dutch linguist sent to South Celebes to translate the Bible into Bugis and Makassarese, hunts old manuscripts and meets Colliq Pujié of Tanette.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Iblis Tanah Suci

    Title translated by AI:“The Devil of the Holy Land”

    Arianto Adipurwanto

    Short stories · 140 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories of a village community that still believes in ancestral spirits, where hardship is stark and the state barely reaches; in one, an illiterate palm-wine tapper drinks himself senseless every day.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Keluarga Oriente

    Title translated by AI:“The Oriente Family”

    Armin Bell

    Short stories · 103 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories, most of them set on Flores and nearby, of people of every trade, class and age caught in everyday violence: from custom, the state, money, gender and abuse close to home.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Oni Jouska

    Asep Ardian

    Novel · Nature

    AI-generated summary:A small remora fish narrates this contemporary fable set in the sea, about the bond between humans and the ocean.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Paya Nie

    Ida Fitri

    Novel · 196 pages · War

    AI-generated summary:During the Free Aceh insurgency, four women go down to the Paya Nie swamp to gather reeds for mats, unaware that Indonesian marines are preparing to attack it.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Mei Salon

    Iin Farliani

    Short stories · 133 pages

    AI-generated summary:Sixteen stories about relationships, between people and between people and the places they live, in which everyday questions of right and wrong turn into a struggle to dominate.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Musik Akhir Zaman

    Title translated by AI:“Music for the End of Time”

    Kiki Sulistyo

    Short stories · 183 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories that move between realism and the surreal, shifting point of view as they question settled religious certainties.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist

    Bek

    Title translated by AI:“Defender”

    Mahfud Ikhwan

    Novel · 364 pages

2021 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2021 · Winner

    Haniyah dan Ala di Rumah Teteruga

    Title translated by AI:“Haniyah and Ala in the Teteruga House”

    Erni Aladjai

    Novel · 143 pages · Nature, Family

    AI-generated summary:Haniyah, who loves the clove trees she was born among, lives with Ala in the house called Teteruga, in a village where some people are crueller than ghosts or wild beasts.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist

    Anak Asli Asal Mappi

    Title translated by AI:“A Native Child of Mappi”

    Casper Aliandu

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Short sketches from a teacher's years in Mappi, in southern Papua, each titled after the words printed on the clothes of the children and villagers he meets.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist

    Damar Kambang

    Title translated by AI:“Floating Lamp”

    Muna Masyari

    Novel · 199 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:Cebbhing, a fourteen-year-old girl in the Madurese village of Karang Penang, becomes the victim of a marriage arranged by her parents to uphold the family's honour.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist

    Segala yang Diisap Langit

    Title translated by AI:“Everything the Sky Swallowed”

    Pinto Anugrah

    Novel · Historical, Family

    AI-generated summary:Rabiah, of a Minangkabau noble house said to die out in its seventh generation, will do anything for a daughter to carry on the line, even become the fifth wife of a man known to father girls.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist

    Ramuan Penangkal Kiamat

    Title translated by AI:“A Potion Against the End of the World”

    Zelfeni Wimra

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Stories of religion, custom, history and family among the Minangkabau, including an old woman left wondering when and how the world will end after her elder sets out two bowls of a potion against it.

2020 4 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2020 · Winner

    Burung Kayu

    Title translated by AI:“Wooden Bird”

    Niduparas Erlang

    Novel

    AI-generated summary:Legeumanai, a boy of the Mentawai islands, moves from the traditional life of his clan to the modern world brought by the government, and back to life in the forest.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2020 · Shortlist

    People from Oetimu

    Orang-Orang Oetimu

    Felix K. Nesi

    Novel · Politics, Satire

    AI-generated summary:In the late 1990s, in Oetimu, a remote corner of West Timor, villagers live with the church, the state and the army, the shadow of the East Timor conflict, and the 1998 World Cup final.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2020 · Shortlist

    Rab(b)i

    Kedung Darma Romansha

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Stories from the world of the telembuk, as sex workers are called in Indramayu, among them a man whose wife works in Taiwan, sends him money every month and lets him visit telembuk while she is away.

2019 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2019 · Winner

    Teh dan Pengkhianat

    Title translated by AI:“Tea and Traitors”

    Iksaka Banu

    Short stories · 164 pages · Historical

    AI-generated summary:Thirteen stories set in the Dutch East Indies, when the first natives rode bicycles, smallpox threatened remote towns and photographs had to be faked by hand.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist

    Bugiali

    Arianto Adipurwanto

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Stories of poverty among the Sasak people of North Lombok, an underdeveloped part of the island.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist

    Tango & Sadimin

    Ramayda Akmal

    Novel · 272 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:On the misty banks of the Cimanduy river, where villagers dig sand, the troubled marriage of Tango and Sadimin unfolds amid strange family histories and a new dam.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist

    Seekor Capung Merah

    Title translated by AI:“A Red Dragonfly”

    Rilda A. Oe. Taneko

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Twenty-five short stories, first printed in Indonesian newspapers and magazines between 2010 and 2018.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist

    Cara Berbahagia Tanpa Kepala

    Title translated by AI:“How to Be Happy Without a Head”

    Triskaidekaman

    Novel · 300 pages · Speculative

    AI-generated summary:Sempati, finding that a head solves nothing and only causes trouble, signs up for a programme that allows it to be detached for a while, and then the head disappears.

2018 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2018 · Winner

    Kura-Kura Berjanggut

    Title translated by AI:“The Bearded Turtle”

    Azhari Aiyub

    Novel · Historical, War

    AI-generated summary:In the sixteenth-century sultanate of Lamuri on the Strait of Malacca, a young man whose parents were massacred takes a long, roundabout road to revenge.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist

    Tiba Sebelum Berangkat

    Title translated by AI:“Arriving Before Departing”

    Faisal Oddang

    Novel · 215 pages

    AI-generated summary:Mapata, once a bissu, a priest of the old Bugis faith in South Sulawesi, is kidnapped and tortured, and in a notebook his captor hands him he writes down his past and the persecution of the bissu.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist

    The Wandering

    Gentayangan

    Intan Paramaditha

    Novel · 448 pages · Migration, Speculative

    AI-generated summary:Given a pair of red shoes by a demon lover, you are cursed to wander, and you choose your own path through the book to New York, Tijuana, Haarlem or Jakarta.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist

    The Sea Speaks His Name

    Laut Bercerita

    Leila S. Chudori

    Novel · 308 pages · Politics, Family

    AI-generated summary:In March 1998 the student activist Biru Laut is seized by unknown men and held and tortured with his friends; years later his sister Asmara searches for the activists who never came back.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist

    Muslihat Musang Emas

    Title translated by AI:“The Golden Civet's Trick”

    Yusi Avianto Pareanom

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Twenty-one stories that go into the darkest corners of the human mind, about tangled family origins, a hometown grown strange, and a love that may bring only disgrace.

2017 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2017 · Winner

    Dawuk

    Mahfud Ikhwan

    Novel · 181 pages · Love, Crime

    AI-generated summary:In a village coffee stall in Java, Warto Kemplung tells anyone who will listen the blood-soaked love story of Mat Dawuk and Inayatun, a couple shunned by their neighbours.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist

    Bakat Menggonggong

    Title translated by AI:“A Talent for Barking”

    Dea Anugrah

    Short stories · 120 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories told by a talkative, cynical and not always trustworthy narrator, who frames moments of life from household trouble to life-or-death situations at war.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist

    Telembuk

    Kedung Darma Romansha

    Novel · 412 pages

    AI-generated summary:In Indramayu around the turn of the millennium, Safitri moves through the world of dangdut and of the telembuk, as local sex workers are called, where women are objectified, exploited and pushed to the margins.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist

    Lengking Burung Kasuari

    Title translated by AI:“The Cry of the Cassowary”

    Nunuk Y. Kusmiana

    Novel · 224 pages · Family, Coming of age

    AI-generated summary:A child of a Javanese soldier posted to Papua in the 1970s grows up among rumours of a man who cuts off children's heads to bury under new bridges.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist

    Calabai

    Pepi Al-Bayqunie

    Novel · 385 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:Saidi, a calabai, of a gender that is neither man nor woman in Bugis tradition, becomes a leader of the bissu, the ritual priests of a Bugis village.

2016 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2016 · Winner

    Raden Mandasia Si Pencuri Daging Sapi

    Title translated by AI:“Raden Mandasia the Beef Thief”

    Yusi Avianto Pareanom

    Novel · 448 pages · Satire

    AI-generated summary:Sungu Lembu, a man living for revenge, joins the strange prince Raden Mandasia, who likes to steal beef, on a journey to the kingdom of Gerbang Agung that leads them through pirates, deserts and war.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist

    Si Janggut Mengencingi Herucakra

    Title translated by AI:“The Bearded One Pees on Herucakra”

    A. S. Laksana

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Twelve stories whose characters wrestle with the world, with one another and with themselves, exposing both the best and perhaps the bleakest sides of human ties.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist

    O

    Eka Kurniawan

    Novel · 470 pages · Satire, Love

    AI-generated summary:O, a monkey in a street circus, endures endless abuse in the hope of becoming human and marrying the Emperor of Dangdut, while a policeman leaves home for love.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist

    Agama Apa yang Pantas bagi Pohon-Pohon?

    Title translated by AI:“What Religion Suits the Trees?”

    Eko Triono

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Stories; in the title story, a couple are lost for words when their small son Zafin asks who God is and whether they can borrow his moon for his room.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist

    Genduk

    Sundari Mardjuki

    Novel · 219 pages · Coming of age, Family

    AI-generated summary:An eleven-year-old girl in a tobacco-farming village high on Mount Sindoro searches for the father she has never seen, in a story told as a memoir.

2015 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2015 · Winner

    Isinga

    Dorothea Rosa Herliany

    Novel · 210 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:Irewa, a young woman in the Papuan highlands bought as a bride with a dowry of pigs, is called back by her husband Malom to a life of hard labour and one pregnancy after another.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2015 · Shortlist

    Perempuan Patah Hati yang Kembali Menemukan Cinta Melalui Mimpi

    Title translated by AI:“The Heartbroken Woman Who Found Love Again Through a Dream”

    Eka Kurniawan

    Short stories

    AI-generated summary:Satirical, intimate stories, among them that of a woman whose dreams promise her a lover: a man who runs along the beach at Pangandaran every evening with a village dog.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2015 · Shortlist

    The Birdwoman's Palate

    Aruna dan Lidahnya

    Laksmi Pamuntjak

    Novel · 341 pages

    AI-generated summary:Aruna, an epidemiologist who lives for food, is sent around Indonesia to investigate scattered bird flu cases and turns the assignment into a journey through regional cooking with three friends.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2015 · Shortlist

    Hujan Bulan Juni

    Title translated by AI:“June Rain”

    Sapardi Djoko Damono

    Novel

    AI-generated summary:Sarwono, a reserved Javanese anthropologist who writes poems, falls in love with Pingkan, his friend's sister, of mixed Javanese and Minahasan descent, though their faiths and backgrounds differ.

2014 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2014 · Winner

    Semua untuk Hindia

    Title translated by AI:“All for the Indies”

    Iksaka Banu

    Short stories · 153 pages · Historical

    AI-generated summary:Thirteen stories set in the Dutch East Indies, from before the arrival of Cornelis de Houtman to the first days of independence, each told from an unusual point of view.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2014 · Shortlist

    Kepada Apakah

    Title translated by AI:“To What”

    Afrizal Malna

    Novel · 302 pages

    AI-generated summary:Ram, a philosophy student who also acts on stage, is gripped by an exam question about the word "what" and longs to cut every tie that binds him, as he travels through Java and on to Ternate.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2014 · Shortlist

    Surga Sungsang

    Title translated by AI:“Upside-Down Heaven”

    Triyanto Triwikromo

    Short stories · 144 pages

    AI-generated summary:In Ujung Tanjung, a fishing village on a sinking cape, people revere the grave of Syeh Muso, a holy man said to have parted the sea, until Abu Jenar sets out to destroy it.

2013 5 books

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2013 · Winner

    Home

    Pulang

    Leila S. Chudori

    Novel · 495 pages · Politics, Family, Migration

    AI-generated summary:Dimas Suryo, an Indonesian exile barred from returning home after 1965, runs a restaurant in Paris with fellow exiles, while his daughter Lintang travels to Jakarta in 1998.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist

    Murjangkung

    A. S. Laksana

    Short stories · 214 pages · Satire

    AI-generated summary:Stories about desire, from a baby-skinned giant who lands with his men on a river shore, founds a city and rules it, to ghosts and foolish lovers.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist

    Surat Panjang tentang Jarak Kita yang Jutaan Tahun Cahaya

    Title translated by AI:“A Long Letter about the Millions of Light-Years Between Us”

    Dewi Kharisma Michellia

    Novel · 236 pages · Love

    AI-generated summary:A long, unsigned letter arrives for a man who has long forgotten the childhood friend who wrote it, a woman who has quietly loved him for decades.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist

    The Question of Red

    Amba

    Laksmi Pamuntjak

    Novel · 556 pages · Love, Historical, Politics

    AI-generated summary:In 2006 Amba travels to Buru Island to find out what became of Bhisma, the doctor she loved, who vanished in the crackdown of 1965 and was sent to the island as a political prisoner.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist

    Bound

    Pasung Jiwa

    Okky Madasari

    Novel · 273 pages · Politics

    AI-generated summary:Sasana and Jaka Wani each try to break free of what binds them: their bodies and minds, family and tradition, religious norms, poverty and the power of the state.

2012 4 books

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2012 · Winner

    The Outcast

    Maryam

    Okky Madasari

    Novel · 249 pages · Politics, Family

    AI-generated summary:On Lombok, a community driven from its homes because of its faith asks for justice and waits, years later, to be allowed to go back to its damaged houses and live in peace.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2012 · Shortlist

    Cerita Cinta Enrico

    Title translated by AI:“Enrico's Love Story”

    Ayu Utami

    Novel · 244 pages

    AI-generated summary:Enrico is born just as a regional rebellion breaks out and spends his first days as a guerrilla baby; he grows up to become a student activist who longs for Suharto's fall.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2012 · Shortlist

    Seekor Anjing Mati di Bala Murghab

    Title translated by AI:“A Dog Died in Bala Murghab”

    Linda Christanty

    Short stories · 131 pages · Politics, War

    AI-generated summary:Stories of political, religious and gender conflict, opening with a narrator who watches a soldier casually shoot a small dog in a distant town.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2012 · Shortlist

    Cigarette Girl

    Gadis Kretek

    Ratih Kumala

    Novel · 275 pages · Family, Love, Historical

    AI-generated summary:As the owner of a kretek cigarette empire lies dying, calling out the name of a woman who is not his wife, his three sons travel across Java to find her.

2011 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2011 · Winner

    Lampuki

    Arafat Nur

    Novel · 433 pages · War, Satire

    AI-generated summary:In an Acehnese village after the fall of Suharto, a loud-mouthed former thug turned guerrilla leader stirs the villagers to take up arms, and it is they who bear the soldiers' reprisals.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2011 · Shortlist

    Tantri, Perempuan yang Bercerita

    Title translated by AI:“Tantri, the Woman Who Told Stories”

    Cok Sawitri

    Novel · 362 pages

    AI-generated summary:King Eswaryadala of Patali Nagantun demands a new young girl every night; when none are left, his chief minister gives up his own daughter, Tantri, who answers him with animal fables.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2011 · Shortlist

    86

    Okky Madasari

    Novel · Politics, Satire

    AI-generated summary:Arimbi, a typist at a district court and the pride of her farming family, slowly learns that in her workplace anything can be bought, and becomes part of the bribery around her.

2010 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2010 · Winner

    Rahasia Selma

    Title translated by AI:“Selma's Secret”

    Linda Christanty

    Short stories · 121 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories of the secrets kept by people struggling against injustice, trauma, doctrine, myth and loneliness.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2010 · Shortlist

    For Nadira

    9 dari Nadira

    Leila S. Chudori

    Short stories · 281 pages · Family

    AI-generated summary:Linked stories follow Nadira, a journalist and the youngest child of the Suwandi family, after her free-spirited mother Kemala takes her own life.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2010 · Shortlist

    Klop

    Title translated by AI:“A Perfect Match”

    Putu Wijaya

    Short stories · 233 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories about everyday characters and the social conditions of the country that people tend to overlook.

2009 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2009 · Winner

    Lembata

    F. Rahardi

    Novel · 256 pages

    AI-generated summary:On Lembata, a poor little island made a regency only eight years before, most people live close to destitution while a few try to lift them out; the publisher calls the novel a sharp challenge to a deaf, rigid Church.

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2009 · Shortlist

    Daughters of Papua

    Tanah Tabu

    Anindita S. Thayf

    Novel · 179 pages · Family, Politics

    AI-generated summary:Three generations of Dani women live in the Baliem Valley of Papua, and the grandmother, Mabel, speaks out against the injustice done to her land so that her granddaughter Leksi will not suffer the same.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2009 · Shortlist

    Sutasoma

    Cok Sawitri

    Novel · 467 pages · Politics

    AI-generated summary:Jayakanta, king of Ratnakanda, watches hidden rivalries, palace intrigue and struggles for power tear at his family, until his kingdom stands on the brink of losing its sovereignty.

2008 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2008 · Winner

    Bilangan Fu

    Title translated by AI:“The Fu Number”

    Ayu Utami

    Novel · 536 pages · Love, Nature

    AI-generated summary:A gambling rock climber, a twelve-fingered young idealist and a free-spirited young woman form a love triangle that draws them into a fight to save the limestone hills of southern Java.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist

    Kacapiring

    Title translated by AI:“Gardenia”

    Danarto

    Short stories · 148 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories in which death proves gentler than feared: a man killed while chasing a terrorist, a husband whose wife chooses to vanish, and an obituary writer everyone avoids until hundreds of thousands seek him out.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist

    Rahasia Meede

    Title translated by AI:“The Secret of Meede”

    E. S. Ito

    Novel · 675 pages · Crime, Historical

    AI-generated summary:An old tunnel under the Jakarta History Museum may lead to hidden gold of the Dutch East India Company, while a string of murders of prominent men terrorizes the city above.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist

    Glonggong

    Junaedi Setiyono

    Novel · 293 pages · Historical, War

    AI-generated summary:A boy of noble Yogyakarta descent, nicknamed after the papaya-stalk swords of a village game, grows up close to the common people and joins Prince Diponegoro's war against the Dutch.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist

    Hubbu

    Title translated by AI:“Love”

    Mashuri

    Novel · 237 pages · Family, Love

    AI-generated summary:Jarot, a young man raised in a Javanese Islamic boarding school, is expected to take over his family's pesantren but longs for another life, and his loves and failures are later uncovered by his daughter.

2007 5 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2007 · Winner

    Perantau

    Title translated by AI:“The Wanderer”

    Gus tf Sakai

    Short stories · 130 pages

    AI-generated summary:Twelve stories; in the title story, a village where every grown man is expected to leave home and make his way elsewhere asks what its wanderers are really looking for.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2007 · Shortlist

    Edensor

    Andrea Hirata

    Novel · Coming of age

    AI-generated summary:Two young men from Belitung, Ikal and his cousin Arai, win scholarships to study in France and set off on adventures across Europe, where almost everything clashes with the Malay world they know.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2007 · Shortlist

    Janda dari Jirah

    Title translated by AI:“The Widow of Jirah”

    Cok Sawitri

    Novel · 187 pages · Historical

    AI-generated summary:A retelling of the Calon Arang legend that turns the feared widow of Jirah, usually a witch, into a calm and wise woman defending what is rightfully hers.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2007 · Shortlist

    Sintren

    Dianing Widya Yudhistira

    Novel · 296 pages · Coming of age, Family

    AI-generated summary:Saraswati, a bright twelve-year-old from a poor village family in Batang, Java, is set on going on to junior high school, and takes up an offer to become a sintren dancer.

2006 1 book

  • In English

    Khatulistiwa 2006 · Winner

    Ordeal by Fire

    Mandi Api

    Gde Aryantha Soethama

    Short stories · 151 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories of Balinese life far from the picture in tourist brochures, where caste, custom and the tourist economy pull people in different directions.

2005 1 book

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2005 · Winner

    Kitab Omong Kosong

    Title translated by AI:“The Book of Nonsense”

    Seno Gumira Ajidarma

    Novel · 623 pages · War

    AI-generated summary:As Rama's army sweeps across the subcontinent, two victims of the war, Satya and Maneka, set out to find Walmiki, the author of the Ramayana.

2004 2 books

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2004 · Winner

    Kuda Terbang Maria Pinto

    Title translated by AI:“Maria Pinto's Flying Horse”

    Linda Christanty

    Short stories · 134 pages · Politics, War

    AI-generated summary:Twelve stories about life under Suharto's New Order and the conflict in East Timor, among them the fear of an Indonesian soldier that shakes his ideas of war and manhood.

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2004 · Winner

    Negeri Senja

    Title translated by AI:“The Land of Dusk”

    Seno Gumira Ajidarma

    Novel · 243 pages · Politics, Satire

    AI-generated summary:A wanderer reaches a land that appears on no map and seems both to exist and not to exist, ruled by a blind tyrant, and records what he sees there.

2003 1 book

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2003 · Winner

    Bibir dalam Pispot

    Title translated by AI:“Lips in the Chamber Pot”

    Hamsad Rangkuti

    Short stories · 174 pages

    AI-generated summary:Stories about the lives of ordinary, struggling Indonesians, with the author explaining how some of them came to be written.

2002 1 book

  • No English yet

    Khatulistiwa 2002 · Winner

    Kerudung Merah Kirmizi

    Title translated by AI:“The Crimson Veil”

    Remy Sylado

    Novel · 616 pages

    AI-generated summary:In the late New Order and the first years of Reformasi, a businessman relies on corrupt security officers and hired thugs to get what he wants, while a love story unfolds amid the danger.