From a building right in front of my windows, I can observe the speed of the sunrises and sunsets. The voices of children playing, laughing, yelling, and crying on the playground crawl up to the eighth floor, where I write. Their voices sound so innocent from a distance.

Andrea Hirata

Categorized in : Children Writing Distance

Happiness is actually found in simple things, such as taking my nephew around the island by bicycle or seeing the stars at night. We go to coffee shops or see airplanes land at the airport.

Andrea Hirata

airplane coffee stars

I changed the course of my life, from the rigidity of mathematics and the corporate rhythm to a more bohemian world.

Andrea Hirata

bohemian mathematics world

My story is the story of forgotten people and the voice of the voiceless.

Andrea Hirata

voice stories people

I am the only one who is not married among my siblings.

Andrea Hirata

my-siblings married sibling

Writing is taking a risk, and it is actually fighting invisible and invincible enemies. They are over-confidence, stupidity, expectation and narcissism.

Andrea Hirata

fighting expectations writing

When I was a child, I saw in the news that a person from Belitung had done well in sports in Jakarta, and I just couldn't imagine that it was possible for someone from here to become famous, and it's still very isolated out here.

Andrea Hirata

news sports children

It took me six novels before I felt confident of my voice as a writer.

Andrea Hirata

six novel voice

I think what matters most in literary work is the context, not the text.

Andrea Hirata

text matters think work

I've backpacked to countries like Italy and Turkey and observed beautiful scenery, but then I realized that beauty was always very close to me. It is here in Belitung Island, where the rivers, beaches and the terrain captivate my attention most.

Andrea Hirata

me scenery beautiful beauty

I'm a small-town boy who comes from a traditional family on a tiny island called Belitung. I may not know where I'm going, but I'll always know where to come home to.

Andrea Hirata

boy know family home

The decision to write full-time meant I couldn't afford to buy a house. A friend kindly offered me the use of his apartment in a thirty-six-story building full of newlywed couples in the southern area of Jakarta. I didn't like my working space at first, but the scenery and everything going on outside have worked their magic on me.

Andrea Hirata

me scenery space decision

The treasure of a writer is to maintain their own style.

Andrea Hirata

maintain own style treasure

I am a working person. I always work, study or do research for my novel. I even work on Sunday.

Andrea Hirata

i-am sunday research work

I think writers of memoirs need to be respected for the bold decision they take to bare their lives open. That alone should be enough. The things I write about, if you notice, are sensitive issues for a lot of people. If I told you my age, they would get ideas. The next thing you know they'll be filing lawsuits against me.

Andrea Hirata

alone me you age

It's hard to be a minority. People look at you a different way, like you don't belong, and I don't think many people realize just how difficult it is to live as a minority. Where I come from, we learn to tolerate one another. Whether one is of Chinese descent or Malay descent, what matters is we're part of the same country, the same world.

Andrea Hirata

look you people world

I want to write books that can truly become a legacy and bring benefits to people.

Andrea Hirata

become legacy want people

I am a writer who has a policy to allocate 90 percent of my time for research and the remaining 10 percent to write.

Andrea Hirata

i-am policy research time

One of the challenges is creating characters. I am trying to compose my sentences to express epic events happening to ordinary people.

Andrea Hirata

i-am challenges trying people

Indonesian writers are so far behind in terms of global exposure compared with the Philippines and Japanese writers.

Andrea Hirata

far behind exposure philippines

As a writer, I can't really take days off. Writing is like creating an art. Once you stop writing, you can lose your rhythm and context, meaning that your writing may lose its power.

Andrea Hirata

lose you power art