Welcome
Dalang is the Indonesian word for master storyteller. The dalang typically tells stories by using shadow puppets in a show called wayang kulit. The inspiration for our logo is known as the kekayon or gunungan, the spade-shaped shield used by the dalang to separate scenes. The images on the shield depict the tree of life and its elements.
Our goal is to give Indonesian writers an international platform from which to tell their stories, introduce them to new readers, and make Indonesian literature more available to the international community. Dalang Publishing is not commited to any political partisanship, ethnicity, or religion.
Dalang Publishing books are distributed to the trade by Ingram Book Company as well as Baker & Taylor, and also available from our website www.dalangpublishing.com, IndieBound Bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Brodart and Amazon. E-books editions are available from Amazon.
About Us
The purchase of the Indonesian translation and publishing rights of Only a Girl (originally released by Publish America, 2009, and later by Dalang Publishing in 2011) by PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama in April 2010 brought me home in October of the same year.
While on a book tour across Java to launch the translation of Only a Girl as Menantang Phoenix (PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2010 ISBN: 978-979-22-6233-9), I was stunned by the infiltration of English into the Indonesian language. The use of English on billboards as well as book covers and newspaper headlines showed that the wellbeing of the Indonesian language was at serious risk. I returned to America with a deep concern for Bahasa Indonesia.
Dalang Publishing is an expression of my desire to contribute to a change for the better in the landscape of Indonesian literature. With the hope to rekindle the fire of unity and pride of Indonesia during the early days of independence, I reach out to my fellow Indonesian writers and publishers, as well as those in leading positions in education and the media. Let us protect and honor our language by careful, unadulterated use.
Gemah Rahardjo brings to Dalang a deep sense of nationalism and love for the arts, as well as his experience as a freelance journalist in Indonesia. With the founding of Dalang Publishing, it is our intent to obtain nonprofit status and create a scholarship for deprived Indonesian youth.
We hope you will use Dalang Publishing as a vehicle to spread the history, culture, and beauty of Indonesia through writing.
Lian Gouw, publisher