Junaedi Setiyono was born in Kebumen, a regency in the southern part of the Indonesian province of Central Java, on 16 December 1965. Setiyono acquired his university degree at the Muhammadiyah University in Purworejo, a small city near Yogyakarta. In 2013, Setiyono was awarded a scholarship by The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, to conduct research as a part of his doctorate degree in language education, which he received in 2016 from the State University of Semarang.

Setiyono worked in a non-governmental organization (NGO) and as a high school English teacher. Since 1997, he has taught at his alma mater in Purworejo, usually on the subjects of writing and translation.

Setiyono started his literary career writing short stories for newspapers and magazines published in Purworejo, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta. He won several awards in short story writing competitions. His first novel, Glonggong (Penerbit Serambi, 2008), won the Jakarta Art Council Novel Writing Award in 2006. In 2008, the same novel was on the five-title shortlist for the Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa Literary Award, which recognizes Indonesia’s best prose and poetry. His second novel, Arumdalu (Penerbit Serambi, 2010), was on the ten-title shortlist for the Khatulistiwa Literary Award in 2010. In 2012, the manuscript for what would become his third novel, Dasamuka (Penerbit Ombak, 2017), won the Jakarta Art Council Novel Manuscript Award. The novel was translated into English in 2017 and published under the same title by Dalang Publishing, a publisher based in San Mateo, California. The novel won the 2020 literary award of the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Education.

Currently, in addition to writing his next novel, set in the Java War (1825–1830), Setiyono is also researching how teaching the English language can be a catalyst to promote Indonesian teaching in Indonesia.

Setiyono lives with his wife, Sari Wahyuni, and their two children, Martin Nuh Hanan and Maryam Mufidah, in Pangenjurutengah, Purworejo, Central Java. He can be contacted via his email: junaedi.setiyono@yahoo.co.id

Oni Suryaman

Oni Suryaman was trained as an engineer, but mostly works in education and as a translator with English as well as Indonesian as a target language. Suryaman started his teaching career in Jakarta at the Monash College — an affiliation of the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He currently teaches test preparations for SAT, GRE, and GMAT.

Suryaman began to translate technical documents and textbooks during his college years. He has translated English fiction and non-fiction language works into Indonesian for several publishers in Indonesia, including:

• Trisurya (Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 2019) from The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin (Chongqing Press, 2008), translated into English by Ken Liu, winner of the 2015 Hugo Award (Tor Books, 2014);
• Madiun Dalam Kemelut Sejarah (Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 2018) from The Residency of Madiun, Priyayi and Peasant in the Nineteenth Century by Onghokham (Yale University Press, 1975);
• Asih Asah Asuh (Kanisius, 2016) from Teaching & Supporting Children with Special Education Needs & Disabilities in Primary School by Jonathan Glazzard, et al. (Learning Matters, 2015);
• Yesus (Gloria Graffa, 2008) from Jesus, An Intimate Portrait of The Man, His Land, and His People by Leith Anderson (Bethany House, 2005).

Suryaman also published two papers in Indonesian addressing science fiction topics: Seksualitas, Gender, dan Institusi Perkawinan dalam Karya-karya Fiksi Ilmiah — Sexuality, Gender, and Marriage Institution in Science Fiction Works (University Sanata Dharma HISKI Seminar Proceeding, 2017); and Snow Crash Sebuah Studi Kasus Literatur Fiksi Ilmiah Pascahumanisme — Posthumanism in Science Fiction, a case study of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (Bantam Books, 1992, University Sanata Dharma HISKI Seminar Proceeding, 2019).

Suryaman published one picture book in Indonesian, “I Belog,” an adaptation of a Balinese folktale (Kanisius, 2017). This book was performed in a dramatic adaptation at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) Singapore in 2017.

Later on, his love for literature made Suryaman pursue a career as a literary translator. Ciuman Sang Buronan — The Kiss of An Outlaw (Gading, 2019) is a collaborative Indonesian language translation by Yogjakarta translators of a short story collection in English by international women authors.

He has also translated short stories for the Your Story page of Dalang Publishing’s website, dalangpublishing.com.

Panji’s Quest is Suryaman’s first literary translation of a full-length work into English.

Among all genres of literature, Suryaman loves science fiction the most. The American sci-fi authors who influenced him are Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke.

Oni Suryaman now lives with his wife, Caecilia Krismariana Widyaningsih, a published children’s book author, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta, away from the busy city life, where he can do what he loves most: educating children and writing fiction.

Suryaman loves to watch movies, particularly the Star Trek series, and enjoys tinkering with paper, textiles, and yarns.

He is involved in his local home school communities and the city’s Credit Union. Suryaman can be reached via email at oni.suryaman@gmail.com.