Nineteen days. Two continents. Five cities. One continuous conversation with literature.
The Summer 2023 Tours and Seminars began on 8 June with a long crossing from Brussels to Jakarta, a nineteen hour international flight followed almost immediately by a domestic hop to Semarang. Jet lag had no real chance. Indonesia received me already in motion. After one night in Semarang, the road led north to Kendal, where the first major engagement was waiting.
Kendal was not an improvisation. The invitation had been set months in advance. Under the banner of Kendal Puisi Award 2023, the Sangkar Arah Community, in collaboration with KLM, Jarak Dekat, and Sanggar Baca Kaliwungu, invited me as a guest mentor for a tightly curated poetry residency. Only around twenty participants passed the selection process. On 11 June 2023, at Teras Budaya Prof. Mudjahirin Thohir, the workshop ran from early morning until evening, hybrid and livestreamed on YouTube. We spoke not only about writing poetry, but about tracing the lineage of world poetry, with a special focus on nineteenth century French poetry through to contemporary voices. I also introduced a comparative literature perspective between Indonesian and French traditions. By 7.30 in the morning the room was already full. Even after 6 pm, participants were still eager to push the discussion further. At 7 pm, the day shifted again. An interview with Objektif.id followed until late evening, before I returned to Semarang that same night.
Semarang unfolded as a quieter but deeply layered chapter. On 12 June, a Meet and Greet with readers took place at Kedai Kopi Kang Putu in Gunung Pati. The following day was spent with Teater Lingkar Semarang, reconnecting literature with performance and collective memory. On 14 June, I met with academics from Universitas PGRI Semarang, followed the next day by personal visits to some of the city’s most respected writers and cultural figures: Eko Tunas, Mas Ton Lingkar, Prasetyo Utomo, Sulis Bambang, and Yanti S. Sastro Prayitno. Before leaving the city, I recorded a podcast session broadcast via YouTube, then took part in a unique collaborative shoot: a poetry reading in French of Anna de Noailles’ Devant le couchant, accompanied by Javanese gamelan. The result was neither recital nor experiment, but a quiet proof that languages and traditions can breathe together.
On 16 June, the journey continued by land to Yogyakarta. For three days, the city became a moving salon. Meet and Greets took place in several locations, including Kotagede, intertwined with literary and historical walks alongside poets such as Bambang Widiatmoko, Joshua Igho, Martin Dinamikanto, and others. Yogyakarta also allowed space for personal visits to major literary voices: Joko Pinurbo, Saut Situmorang, Sunlie Thomas Alexander, Umi Kulsum, Mutia Sukma, and Indrian Koto. These were not ceremonial stops, but conversations. Long, generous, sometimes unfinished, as the best conversations usually are.
Yogyakarta offered a softer rhythm, but not a quieter mind. On 27 and 28 November, mornings were dedicated to breakfast meetings at the hotel, inviting writers and thinkers for unhurried conversations that drifted between literature, politics, memory, and everyday life. Among those who joined were Mutia Sukma, Mahfud Ikhwan and his wife Selvi Ananda, alongside several other voices from the city’s literary ecosystem.
One of the central moments in Yogyakarta was the public discussion of Poetry as Autobiography, organized by JBS Publishing, the book’s publisher. The atmosphere was warm, crowded, and deeply attentive. The room gathered some of Indonesia’s literary legends: Saut Situmorang, Sunlie Thomas Alexander, Logo Situmorang, R. Audal Tanjung Benoa, An Ismanto, and many other major figures whose presence alone turned the discussion into a living archive of Indonesian letters. The conversation moved easily between Baudelaire’s life, poetic subjectivity, and the ways biography infiltrates verse without becoming confession. It was less a formal book launch than a collective reflection, charged with humor, sharp disagreement, and mutual respect.
Beyond these exchanges, I visited IFI Yogyakarta, met with its director Monsieur Dabin, and donated my translated works to the IFI Mediatheque, allowing the books to circulate beyond personal networks and into a shared institutional space. In Yogyakarta, literature did not rush. It lingered, unfolded slowly, and reminded me that intellectual depth often grows best where time is allowed to breathe.
Another memorable moment unfolded far from auditoriums and formal stages. One afternoon in Yogyakarta, an interview took place at a modest soto ceker stall near Malioboro, a space where steam rose from bowls and conversations flowed without pretense. The journalist from Kedaulatan Rakyat chose this setting deliberately, allowing the discussion to move naturally between literature, translation, cultural journeys, and the lived texture of everyday Indonesia. The informality of the place dissolved any stiffness. Ideas emerged with clarity, grounded not only in theory but in experience, memory, and the sensory reality of the city itself.
Several weeks later, the conversation resurfaced in print. The article appeared in Kedaulatan Rakyat, carrying that afternoon’s dialogue into a wider public sphere. What began as an unguarded exchange over a humble meal became a published reflection on literary work, cultural crossings, and the quiet persistence of writing beyond institutional walls. It was a reminder that meaningful literary conversations often find their strongest voice not in polished venues, but in places where life continues uninterrupted, and words are allowed to arrive as they are.
Bandung arrived after an eight hour train journey from Yogyakarta. The city welcomed me already mid sentence. On 22 June, Institut Jatinangor, led by Hikmat Gumelar and Mona Sylviana, hosted a public discussion titled Translating Poetry: Navigating the Labyrinth at Goodlife Café on Dago Street. Writers, editors, and literary figures from Bandung filled the room, including Topik Mulyana, Violetta Simatupang, and Rosyid E. Abby from Pikiran Rakyat. Translation here was treated not as technique, but as intellectual adventure. The following day, Pustaka Jaya invited me to the Ajib Rosidi Library for an interview and content shoot reflecting on my writing journey. That same afternoon, I became a speaker for the collective anthology 777, discussed alongside Bandung poets at Kedai Jante. Bandung compressed dialogue, memory, and publication into a single breath.
Jakarta closed the circle. On 24 June, at Baca di Tebet, South Jakarta, Indonesia Writer Inc. organized A Cup of Poetry, A Plate of Prose, moderated by Kurnia Efendi. The discussion moved between writing, translation, and cross cultural literary practice for children, attended by leading writers, editors, and cultural figures. The next day, Ruang Jabat Tangan JSM, organized by Jagat Sastra Milenia under the direction of Riri Satria, brought a different tone. At Sate & Seafood Senayan Salemba, I spoke on literary translation, nineteenth century French versification, and French literature more broadly. The atmosphere was warm, intellectually alert, and driven by questions that refused easy answers.
On 27 June, I was back in Brussels by midday. That same evening, I returned to the classroom at Académie Art de la Parole.
Summer 2023 was not a tour in the promotional sense alone. It was a moving archive of encounters. Readers, writers, students, academics, editors, and artists across cities met me not as an author passing through, but as a participant in an ongoing exchange. The photographs on this page capture moments. The real work happened between them: in conversation, in shared silence, in questions that traveled farther than any itinerary.
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