So at first glance this sounds pretty great: as the Jakarta Globe reports, 'Laskar Pelangi' Gets US Book Deal, as:
Except, of course, that it's long been available in English, in Angie Kilbane's 2009 translation; see the Bentang Pustaka publicity page -- or, in fact, read most of it at Google Books.
Oh, yeah: the fact that Brad Pitt's production company has apparently expressed some interest in it probably helped too. (Hirata was also a 2010 resident at the International Writing Program, University of Iowa.)
Not that I'm complaining -- but if this is what it takes for an American publisher to pick up a South-East Asian novel not originally written in English ... that's a pretty (ridiculously) high hurdle for any book or author to clear (which helps explain why so little from the region is published stateside).
In a big step for Indonesian literature on the world stage, American publisher Farrar, Strauss and Giroux has agreed to publish an English-language version of the popular novel Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops).That's Andrea Hirata's million-selling 2005 novel, which was also made into a very popular 2008 movie. But even with that success ... how extraordinary that an American publisher picks up an Indonesian novel .....
Except, of course, that it's long been available in English, in Angie Kilbane's 2009 translation; see the Bentang Pustaka publicity page -- or, in fact, read most of it at Google Books.
Oh, yeah: the fact that Brad Pitt's production company has apparently expressed some interest in it probably helped too. (Hirata was also a 2010 resident at the International Writing Program, University of Iowa.)
Not that I'm complaining -- but if this is what it takes for an American publisher to pick up a South-East Asian novel not originally written in English ... that's a pretty (ridiculously) high hurdle for any book or author to clear (which helps explain why so little from the region is published stateside).