Dialog with Laksmi Pamuntjak (Jakarta)
4:45 P.M., Room 102, Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse

Laksmi Pamuntjak is a contemporary Indonesian poet, journalist, short-story writer, food writer and essayist. She received her BA with first class honors in Asian Studies (majoring in political science) from Murdoch University, Western Australia, in 1993. On her return to Jakarta, she has since 1994 written columns and articles on politics, film, food, classical music and literature for Tempo Magazine, The Jakarta Post, the daily Koran Tempo, the socio-economic journal Prisma, Djakarta! Lifestyle Magazine and elsewhere. In 2001, she co-founded Aksara, a bilingual bookstore in Jakarta.

Laksmi is widely credited as a pioneer in contemporary food writing in Indonesia through two editions of The Jakarta Good Food Guide. She also belongs to a very rare breed of Indonesian contemporary writers writing both in English and Indonesian. When she released her first collection of poetry, Ellipsis, which appeared in The Herald UK Books of the Year 2005 list, The Jakarta Post wrote, “Although some literary works of local authors, like those of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, have also gained international recognition, Laksmi has become the first whose book has been mentioned as a book of the year.”

In 2006, Laksmi released her treatise on violence and the Iliad entitled Perang, Langit dan Dua Perempuan (War, Heaven, and Two Women), along with her first collection of short stories, The Diary of R.S.: Musings on Art. The Anagram, her second poetry collection, comes out in March 2007.

Laksmi has also translated and edited Goenawan Mohamad: Selected Poems and now she is working on her first novel.

Pamuntjak is also an accomplished classical pianist who has represented Indonesia and Australia in international piano competitions. Pamuntjak, who is a single working mother, currently divides her time between Jakarta and Singapore.


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