Andrea Hirata profile

       In the Los Angeles Review of Books Pallavi Aiyar writes 'On Andrea Hirata and the bestselling Indonesian novel of all time', in The Rainbow Troops: A Visit with Indonesia's Bestselling Author. Hirata is the author of that bestselling title, The Rainbow Troops, which came out in the US from Farrar, Straus & Giroux earlier this year.
       Unfortunately, the piece's credibility is undermined by Aiyar's claim that:

Since The Rainbow Troops, Hirata has written several more novels, including three sequels to his debut. But none have done as well as his first book, which is also the only work of Hirata's to have been translated into English.

       I know literary journalism has the lowest of standards, but for god's sake, even I know (and even the most rudimentary research reveals) that two other Hirata-titles have been translated into English -- The Dreamer (translated, like The Rainbow Troops, by Angie Kilbane) and EdensoR (translated by John Colombo; check out the cover). Yes, they haven't been published in 'the West' (the measure of all things ?) -- but they have been available for a while -- just as The Rainbow Troops was available in English translation years before it came out in the FSG edition -- even if it was pretty hard to come by outside South-East Asia.
       I'd be more tolerant of such a slip in a more general piece, but come on, Aiyar sat down with the author. She couldn't be bothered to ask whether any of his other novels had been translated ?
       Shoddy journalism (and poor fact-checking by whatever editor signed off on this) -- and a disservice to the author (as interested English-speaking readers won't even try to seek out these titles, left unaware of their existence).