Treating the taboos of an era, in an open way.

Reflecting the richness of the Indonesian oral tradition, her prose is lively and modern. She writes freely about love and sexuality, and also about the relationship between Muslims and Christians. Breaking with Indonesian literature to date, she treats social taboos in an open way. By writing about politics and sex, she addressed issues always forbidden to Indonesian women. Born in Bagor in a November day, 1968, AYU UTAMI has written novels and short-stories. Saman, is considered her 1998’s masterpiece, also translated into English in 2005. Becoming a new milestone in Indonesian literature, that her first novel has sold over 100,000 copies, and won the Jakarta Arts Council’s first prize, causing a sensation among Indonesian intellectuals. In 1990, she was selected as a finalist a beauty pageant, but she did not pursue a modelling career. Growing up in Jakarta, she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Russian language and literature.

Written while she was unemployed, this novel ignited a new literary movement that opened the doors to sexually-themed literary works to young Indonesian women. Saman, a controversial Indonesian novel, depicts the lives of a former Catholic priest and four sexually-liberated female friends. This stories, reflect some of her personal experiences. Here, writer deals with taboo for women writers in Indonesia at that time, also writing about the supernatural and mysticism. Inside this novel, you can discover passages reflecting Suharto’s political authoritarianism.

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