Introduction to 2025 series of short stories.
Dalang published Footprints / Tapak Tilas, the 49 short-story, bilingual compilation in 2022. The publication celebrated our tenth anniversary and acknowledged the contributing 44 authors and 18 translators. This launch resulted in the seven short stories to be featured here in 2025.
Each of these short-story authors represents one of the seven areas Indonesia is known for.
During the Footprints / Tapak Tilas launch event in each region, we asked the audience for questions and offered a competition. The most in-depth question submitted, that would help an up-and-coming author or translator, would win and receive a copy of Footprints / Tapak Tilas. The winners were requested to write a short story and promised that the professionally edited work and its translation would be featured on our website.
These authors are mostly young, aspiring writers with a keen interest in literature and sense of nationalism. We hope that being published on our website will give them a foothold into the literary world and inspire them to continue the journey with their writing muse.
Our stories are not only geared to develop writing skills, but are also aimed at nurturing Indonesian literature with the hope of breaking through international walls. As for our foreign readers, we hope our stories bring enlightenment regarding Indonesian customs, culture, history, and society. For the Indonesian readers, we hope to awaken and/or nurture a sense of pride in their home country and the bounty it has to offer.
A recording of the events can be found at:
https://sites.google.com/view/bincangsastra-eng/beranda
Junaedi Setiyono
Junaedi Setiyono received a scholarship from Ohio State University to conduct research as part of his doctorate degree in language education, which he received in 2016 from the State University in Semarang, Central Java. He felt being part of Dalang Publishing after he was entrusted with the edit of Lolong Anjing di Bulan (Sanata Dharma University Press 2018), a novel by Arafat Nur, and the translation of two short stories: Mengenang Padewakkang, by Andi Batara Al Isra, and Ketuk Lumpang, by Muna Masyari — both published in 2022 in Dalang’s Footprints/Tapak Tilas, a bilingual short story compilation.
Setiyono’s most recent assignment — to edit the 2025 series of six short stories to be published in installments on Dalang’s website — gave him the opportunity to improve his own writing skills, including accurate word placement, appropriate sentence structure, and careful examination of the storyline’s plausibility as composed by the author.
Dalang has published two of Setiyono’s novels: Dasamuka (Penerbit Ombak 2017) and Tembang dan Perang (Penerbit Kanisius 2020).
Setiyono teaches writing and translation at his alma mater, the Muhammadiyah University of Purworejo. He received three awards for Dasamuka from: the Jakarta Arts Council; the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture; and the Southeast Asian Literature Council.
Junaedi Setiyono: junaedi.setiyono@yahoo.co.id
Terre Gorham
Terre Gorham has spent her entire life coaxing words to sing. Briarcliff Elementary School “published” her first short story when she was in 2nd grade. She went on to earn a degree in writing. She freelanced her work until she landed a full-time job as editor of The Downtowner Magazine, in Memphis, TN, where she wrote, edited, and guided young writers for more than 20 years. Gorham has ghost-written a novel for a non-profit organization that helps abused women. She joined Dalang Publishing in 2017 as the English language editor. Her words have been published in hundreds of publications. She is currently working for an event production company where she edits documents ranging from client presentation decks to policy manuals. Now, nearing “retirement age,” she continues her editing work on a freelance basis once again.
Terre Gorham: terregorham@gmail.com
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