(Indonesia, 1971)
Award-winning bilingual Indonesian novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, food critic and literary curator. She writes widely on culture and politics for Indonesian and international publications including opinion pieces for The Guardian.
Pamuntjak’s debut novel, Amba/The Question of Red, has been translated into several languages and won Germany’s LiBeraturpreis in 2016. The novel was also on the shortlist of Indonesia’s Khatulistiwa Literary Award and #1 on Germany’s Weltempfaenger list of the best works of fiction from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Arab World translated into German.
In March 2024, The Economist named Amba/The Question of Red one of Six Books to Read about Indonesia.
The movie adaptation of Pamuntjak’s second novel, Aruna dan Lidahnya (published in the US as The Birdwoman’s Palate), won two Citra awards, Indonesia’s version of the Oscars. The movie had its European premiere at the 2019 Berlinale International Film Festival and is playing on Netflix.
In 2018, Pamuntjak’s first English novel, Fall Baby, was published in Germany under the title Herbstkind. A year later, the original version was published by Penguin Random House SEA and won the 2020 Singapore Book Award for Best Literary Work.
In June 2025, The Book of Mating, the English translation of Pamuntjak’s short story collection, Kitab Kawin (transl. Annie Tucker), won the 2025-2026 Humanities in Translation (HiT) Prize. A few short stories in the collection have been published in various literary journals, with “Anna and Her Daughter’s Partner” being one of Words Without Borders’ 5 Top Fiction Picks of 2022.
The Book of Mating will be published in the US by Northwestern University Press in Fall 2026.
As a poet, Laksmi has published two poetry collections, with Ellipsis appearing in the 2005 Herald UK Books of the Year list. In 2012, she became the Indonesian representative at Poetry Parnassus, UK’s largest poetry festival in conjunction with the London Olympics.
As a food writer, her most notable contribution to Indonesian culinary history is five editions of the Jakarta Good Food Guide series, published for the first time in 2001. The series is widely acknowledged as Indonesia’s first independent and literary good food guide.
Along with her poems, short stories and essays, Pamuntjak’s writing on art has appeared in numerous international literary journals. In 2022, she co-curated a literary exhibition in Jakarta to celebrate the centennial of the great Indonesian poet Chairil Anwar. Between 2009 and 2011, she served as an international jury member for the Amsterdam-based Prince Claus Award, an international philanthropy organization.
Pamuntjak’s latest work (2024) is Selaput Biru (Blue Iris). Begun and completed during her Fall 2023 residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, it is a memoir of sorts based on her reflections on art and life.
Between August and December 2024, she was Literaturhaus Zurich Writer-in-Residence.
Laksmi Pamuntjak’s body of work can be accessed through her personal website, www.laksmipamuntjak.com
Other activities involving the participant:
Annual International Storytellers Conference
FIL Program 
See live
