Saman
Ayu Utami's 1998 debut novel about four women friends and a former priest, translated into English by Pamela Allen and published by Equinox in 2005.
Saman is Ayu Utami’s debut novel, published in Indonesia in 1998 a few weeks before the fall of Suharto. It won the Jakarta Arts Council Novel Competition, sold over 100,000 copies and sparked the sastra wangi movement of young women writing about sex and politics. Dee Lestari picks it as a mark of a new era in literature. Pamela Allen’s English translation was published by Equinox in 2005.
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Dee Lestari
The story broke many barriers of various taboos and sensitive topics, including the rise of women authors. To me, Saman was a mark of a new era in literature.
Interview · April 2019
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