Denny JA's Essay Poetry Book to Be Translated into 35 Languages Following BRICS Award

A book of essay poetry by Denny JA will be translated into 35 languages in a project hailed as one of the widest-reaching translations of an Indonesian literary work to date. Publisher CBI stated that the project is a follow-up to Denny JA receiving the BRICS Award 2025 in the Literary Innovation category. CBI President Director Ari Nugroho explained that the idea initially came from the BRICS Award committee, who suggested Denny JA’s essay poetry be translated into the languages of BRICS member countries. However, the plan subsequently expanded into a project encompassing 35 languages. ‘For us, translation is not merely about moving words from one language to another. Translation is a way to broaden empathy between human beings,’ Ari said. From eight of Denny JA’s essay poetry books already available in English, the volume titled ‘Yang Menggigil dalam Arus Sejarah’ (Those Who Tremble in the Current of History) was chosen because it raises humanitarian themes considered universal. The book contains 15 essay poems addressing various world historical events, including World War I, the Spanish Flu, the Russian Revolution, the Hiroshima atomic bomb, the Nanking Massacre, the French Revolution, slavery in the United States, the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghetto, the great famine under Mao Zedong, China’s Cultural Revolution, and the tragedy of the Vietnamese boat people. According to the publisher, the work positions history’s victims as the main characters, rather than rulers or war victors. ‘History usually remembers the winners. Literature remembers those who are almost forgotten,’ the publisher noted. The publisher assessed that the book’s uniqueness lies in the essay poetry form, which combines narrative poetry with footnotes based on historical facts, allowing readers not only to gain knowledge but also to feel the emotional experiences of the characters. ‘History explains what happened. Poetry helps us feel what it was like to be inside the event,’ Ari said. One poem in the book tells the story of the Nguyen family, Vietnamese refugees who undertook a perilous journey across the South China Sea in search of a safer life. The publisher hopes such stories can build cross-cultural empathy by presenting human experiences that readers from various countries can understand. The translation project will be carried out in two phases. The first phase has been completed for six major world languages: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, and Mandarin. The second phase will expand translation to 29 other languages across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania, with a completion target of the end of 2027. Once the entire process is finished, ‘Yang Menggigil dalam Arus Sejarah’ will be available in 35 languages, and all digital editions will be published openly via Google Books to be accessible to readers from various countries. To realise the project, Publisher CBI is collaborating with several translation institutions and BRICS parties in Indonesia, coordinated by Sastri Bakry as the Indonesian coordinator for the BRICS Literary Innovation initiative. Meanwhile, Denny JA stated that the project’s main goal is not merely to expand readership. ‘Thirty-five languages are not the final goal. What I want to spread is not just poetry, but the human capacity to feel the suffering of another human being,’ Denny JA said.