All prizes Indonesia
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Little Jose in You and Other Stories”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“As If They Could Be Separated”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“It Was Drizzling Then, and I Felt Strange and Alone”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“How We Face Loss”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Mission to Thwart a Prayer”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2026 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Lost After Being Born Again”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Devil of the Holy Land”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Oriente Family”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2025 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Music for the End of Time”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“A Native Child of Mappi”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Floating Lamp”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Everything the Sky Swallowed”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2021 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“A Potion Against the End of the World”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2020 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Most Brilliant Trading Stories”
Short stories
AI-generated summary:Comic, fantastical stories that take sharp jabs at people who casually call on religion to settle every matter.
Khatulistiwa 2020 · Shortlist
Orang-Orang Oetimu
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.
Khatulistiwa 2020 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist
Short stories
AI-generated summary:Stories of poverty among the Sasak people of North Lombok, an underdeveloped part of the island.
Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“A Red Dragonfly”
Short stories
AI-generated summary:Twenty-five short stories, first printed in Indonesian newspapers and magazines between 2010 and 2018.
Khatulistiwa 2019 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“How to Be Happy Without a Head”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Arriving Before Departing”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist
Gentayangan
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.
Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist
Laut Bercerita
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.
Khatulistiwa 2018 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Golden Civet's Trick”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“A Talent for Barking”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Cry of the Cassowary”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2017 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Bearded One Pees on Herucakra”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“What Religion Suits the Trees?”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2016 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2015 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Children of the Past”
Short stories
Khatulistiwa 2015 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Heartbroken Woman Who Found Love Again Through a Dream”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2015 · Shortlist
Aruna dan Lidahnya
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.
Khatulistiwa 2015 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“June Rain”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2014 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“To What”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2014 · Shortlist
Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas
Novel · 216 pages · Crime, Love
AI-generated summary:At the height of a violent regime, two boys peeping through a hole in a window see two policemen rape a madwoman, and a bird decides to go into a long sleep.
Khatulistiwa 2014 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Only You Know How Much Longer I Must Wait”
Short stories
Khatulistiwa 2014 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Upside-Down Heaven”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“A Long Letter about the Millions of Light-Years Between Us”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist
Amba
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.
Khatulistiwa 2013 · Shortlist
Pasung Jiwa
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.
Khatulistiwa 2012 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Enrico's Love Story”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2012 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“A Dog Died in Bala Murghab”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2012 · Shortlist
Gadis Kretek
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.
Khatulistiwa 2011 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Tantri, the Woman Who Told Stories”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2011 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2011 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“No Saints from the Circus”
Novel · 397 pages
Khatulistiwa 2010 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Most Beautiful Lips in the World”
Short stories · 166 pages
AI-generated summary:Stories of love and infidelity, sensuality and grief, and memories of political cruelty and faith.
Khatulistiwa 2010 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Marionette's Lover and 12 Other Stories”
Short stories · 142 pages
Khatulistiwa 2010 · Shortlist
9 dari Nadira
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.
Khatulistiwa 2010 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“A Perfect Match”
Short stories · 233 pages
AI-generated summary:Stories about everyday characters and the social conditions of the country that people tend to overlook.
Khatulistiwa 2009 · Shortlist
Tanah Tabu
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.
Khatulistiwa 2009 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2009 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Quelling Revenge”
Novel · 295 pages
Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Gardenia”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Secret of Meede”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2008 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“Love”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2007 · Shortlist
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.
Khatulistiwa 2007 · Shortlist
Title translated by AI:“The Widow of Jirah”
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.
Khatulistiwa 2007 · Shortlist
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.