Novel pirated in China

PURWOKERTO, Central Java: A local novelist plans to sue a Jakarta-based publisher for illegally translating his book into Chinese and selling copies in China.

The writer, Ahmad Tohari, said he learned that his work had been pirated from a businessman who recently visited China and found the Chinese version of best selling Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (Dancer from Paruk) being sold in the streets.

Tohari, who will receive a literary award from the Thai government next month, said he realized that it would be fruitless to take legal action against the distributors in China.

No writer has won a piracy case in a Chinese court, Antara quoted him as saying yesterday.

The novel, which has been translated into English, German, Dutch, Spanish and Arabic, will be made into a TV film. (imn)