Afrizal Malna, born in Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 on June 7, 1957, is an Indonesian activist, writer of prose, poetry, and theatrical texts.

Biography

Afrizal Malna before beginning his career into writing, studied at the Driyakara College of Philosophy. His poems are predominantly an expression of material aspects in urban existence. Taking images from daily life, Malna juxtaposes them to bring forth the noise and chaos of our existence today. He is fond of seeking connections among different objects in his poems, which he describes as "visual grammar of things". In 1995, Afrizal Malna participated in the International Poets Festival in Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. He is also a featured poet on the Poetry International Web

Poetry International Web

Poetry International Web is a monthly international webzine and an important poetry archive put together by a collective body of editors around the world and centrally edited in Rotterdam. The site presents poetry from 34 countries in their original languages and in English translation....

. His poetry collection Teman-Temanku dari Atap Bahasa (My Friends from the Roof of Language), published in 2008 was chosen as the best literary work of 2009 by the Indonesian news magazine Tempo

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

. He is associated with a number of magazines, such as Horizon , Kompas Daily, News Buana, Republic, Rule of the People, Java Post, Surabaya Post, and Mind of Representatives.

Besides composing poems, Afrizal Malna has also written short stories and has published two prose books, Novel yang Malas Mengisahkan Manusia (A Novel Reluctant to Tell of Humans) in 2003, and Lubang dari Separuh Langit (A Hole from Half the Sky) in 2004. In his book entitled Journey Theatre Anthology Second Body and the Word, Afrizal Malna talks about theater. In order to discuss theater across Indonesia, Afrizal Malna has traveled to Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 and Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

.

Awards

• Best Literary Work 2009 from the Indonesian news magazine Tempo
  Tempo magazine (Indonesia)
  Tempo is an Indonesian weekly magazine that covers news and politics. It was founded by Goenawan Mohamad and Yusril Djalinus and the first edition was published in March 1971.-New Order era:...
  
   for the poetry collection Teman-Temanku dari Atap Bahasa
• Essay Literary magazine Horison (1997)
• The Silence In Microphone, Architecture Rain (1995) received an award from the Center for Development and the Ministry of Education and Language Development Cultural Affairs in 1996
• Republika Award for essay in Senimania Republika, Republika
  Republika (Indonesian newspaper)
  Republika is one of several national daily newspapers in Indonesia. The newspaper is also known as a Moslem publication. Republika was founded in 1992 and the first edition was published on January 3, 1993, by Yayasan Abdi Bangsa -- a foundation that supported by Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim...
  
   (1994)
• Literature Book Prize by Jakarta Arts Council, (1984)
• Bronze Reel to script monologue from Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep (1981)

Translations

• Traum der Freiheit Indonesien 50 jahre nach der Unabhangigkeit (Hendra Pasuhuk & Edith Koesoemawiria, 1995)
• Frontiers of World Literature (Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, Tokyo, 1997)
• Poets, Friends Around the World (Mitoh-Sha, Tokyo, 1997)
• Menagerie 3 (John H. McGlynn, 1997)
• Do Lado Dos Ollos Arredor da poesia, entrevistas con 79 Poetas do Mundo (Emiilio Arauxo, Edicions do cumio, 2001)

Performing Arts

• Hormat dan Sampah (1995)
• Kesibukan Mengamati Batu-Batu (1996)
• Telur Matahari (2003)

External links

• Website with English translations of Afrizal Malna's poetry. Poetry Afrizal Malna
• Poetry International's poem of the week, translated poem by Afrizal Malna, i just mopped the floor Poem of the Week
• http://jogjanews.com/2010/07/04/workshop-bahasa-bersam-afrizal-malna-sederhana-tapi-penting/ Common Language Workshop
• http://etd.eprints.ums.ac.id/10678/ Thesis: KRITIK MODERNITAS: PEMBACAAN SEMIOTIKA PUISI-PUISI AFRIZAL MALNA