Taufiq Ismail: Reading the Signs

John H. McGlynn, Co-founder of the Lontar Foundation, has dedicated his career to promoting Indonesian culture through translation and publication. Through Lontar, he has brought over 250 books to print, featuring works by more than 650 Indonesian authors, including groundbreaking anthologies on LGBT literature, political exiles, and 20th-century drama, as well as translations of nearly 200 women authors. Lontar’s work has made Indonesian literature accessible worldwide in English. McGlynn also initiated the On the Record documentary program, producing over 90 films on writers and performance traditions. As a translator himself, under his own name and the pseudonym Willem Samuels, he has earned international acclaim.

Hamzah Muhammad is an Indonesian writer, cultural curator, and the initiator of Poetry on the Spot in 2020. Since 2009, he has been actively involved in various art and cultural initiatives, working as a copywriter, translator, editor, and curator. In 2019, together with several colleagues, he co-founded Atelir Ceremai, a collective art space in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, dedicated to cross-disciplinary practices in music, film, theater, literature, and visual arts. He currently manages the Makarya bookstore and the Velodrom publishing house. His latest books are seberapa indie published by Warning Books in 2025 and aku yang siapa pun kelak published by Ramu in 2025.

Hamzah Muhammad adalah penulis dan kurator budaya asal Indonesia, sekaligus penggagas Poetry on the Spot pada 2020. Sejak 2009, ia aktif terlibat dalam berbagai inisiatif seni dan budaya, dengan pengalaman sebagai copywriter, penerjemah, editor, dan kurator. Pada 2019, bersama beberapa rekannya, ia mendirikan Atelir Ceremai, ruang seni kolektif di Rawamangun, Jakarta Timur, yang berfokus pada praktik lintas disiplin di bidang musik, film, teater, sastra, dan seni visual. Saat ini, ia mengelola toko buku Makarya serta penerbit Velodrom. Buku terbarunya adalah seberapa indie yang diterbitkan oleh Warning Books tahun 2025 dan aku yang siapa pun kelak yang diterbitkan oleh Ramu tahun 2025.

Jennifer Mackenzie is an Australian poet and reviewer focusing on writing from and about the Asian region. Since the publication of Borobudur by Transit Lounge in 2009, which was also republished by The Lontar Foundation in 2012, she has presented her work at numerous conferences and festivals, most recently at the Mathrubhumi Festival of Literary Arts in Trivandrum and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. Her most recent book, a homage to the Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, is Navigable Ink published by Transit Lounge in 2020. A new collection, The Wallace Line: A Poem, will appear in September 2025.

Jennifer Mackenzie adalah penyair dan penelaah sastra asal Australia yang berfokus pada karya-karya dari dan tentang kawasan Asia. Sejak menerbitkan Borobudur melalui Transit Lounge pada tahun 2009 yang kemudian diterbitkan ulang oleh The Lontar Foundation pada tahun 2012, ia telah mempresentasikan karyanya di berbagai konferensi dan festival sastra, termasuk Mathrubhumi Festival of Literary Arts di Trivandrum dan Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. Buku terbarunya, Navigable Ink, yang didedikasikan untuk penulis Indonesia Pramoedya Ananta Toer, diterbitkan oleh Transit Lounge pada tahun 2020. Sementara itu, kumpulan puisinya yang akan datang, The Wallace Line: A Poem, dijadwalkan terbit pada September 2025.