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Intimate Encounter: The Question of Identity and Everyday Life in Contemporary Aceh

In this talk, I will explore the evolution of literary expression in post-Suharto Indonesia, drawing on my journey as a reader and writer. Growing up in Aceh, I encountered two contrasting literary streams: the works of women writers like Djenar Maesa Ayu and Ayu Utami, whose exploration of sexual liberation and self-expression challenged the New Order’s State-Ibuism—the idealized role of women as dutiful wives and mothers. At the same time, I encountered Forum Lingkar Pena, a Muslim writers' community whose pious self-expression, such as wearing the hijab, was once banned by the regime. Both were stigmatised by male-dominated literary circles—the former were labeled as “sastrawangi” (fragrance literature), while the latter were dismissed as lacking literary depth.

These contrasting literary worlds shaped my understanding of voice and agency, but my own writing has evolved in response to Aceh’s socio-political context. Having lived through political unrest, the tsunami, and the imposition of Sharia law in Banda Aceh, my focus has shifted to the everyday lives of women, particularly the female body as a site of contestation. Through writing about everyday activities—such as getting a haircut, dressing up, swimming, playing basketball, or going on a date—I aim to show how these seemingly simple acts can serve as forms of resistance in a society where personal autonomy is increasingly constrained. My work also engages with the complexities of identity in Aceh, challenging chauvinistic notions of what it means to be “truly Acehnese.” I critique how both the state and market regulate women’s bodies, while envisioning a space where self-expression fosters peace and autonomy.

Through these personal, embodied acts of resistance, I aim to redefine what resistance can look like in a place where both identity and the body are tightly controlled, offering a space for agency and autonomy in everyday life.

Raisa Kamila is a writer and doctoral student at SOAS University of London, currently researching the history of infrastructure in Aceh during the Dutch colonial period. Raised in Banda Aceh, she studied philosophy and history in Yogyakarta and Leiden. Raisa is also a founding member of Perkawanan Perempuan Menulis, a collaborative writing and learning practice bridging literature and history. In 2018, she co-published Tank Merah Muda: Cerita-Cerita yang Tercecer dari Reformasi, a short story collection under Creative Commons. Her latest books, Perkara Keramat and Cerita Dari Sebelah Masjid Raya, were both published in 2024 respectively by Gramedia Pustaka Utama and Mizan.

What’s in a Preposition? Writing In, About, and From Malaysia

Say there is a poet. Say the poet is Malaysian. Does that mean that every poem the poet writes is a Malaysian poem? Is a Malaysian poem the same thing as a poem about Malaysia? What makes it Malaysian, exactly: subject, landscape, metaphor, cultural reference? What about where the poet is based—is it possible to write from Malaysia, without necessarily being in Malaysia? What about the language: if this Malaysian poet writes in Standard English, in whose tradition are they writing? (Or is language never Standard in poetry?) And regardless of where they write from, to whom do they write, i.e. who is the target reader? How much should or shouldn’t be “translated” for this reader's benefit? And are these the kinds of questions a poet should be thinking about anyway?

In this talk, I will be reading a few of my poems and using them to explore these questions of language, heritage, audience, and translation.

Yee Heng Yeh is a writer and translator from Malaysia. His poetry has been published in local and international venues, shortlisted in the Malaysian Poetry Writing Competition 2021, and twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In 2023, he was a resident artist at Rimbun Dahan and a Writing Fellow at A Public Space. He is also the poetry editor for NutMag, a contributor to Penang Monthly, and a Chevening Scholar 2024/2025, currently studying MA Creative Writing Poetry at the University of East Anglia. You can find him on Twitter @HengYeh42.

Self-Portraits in Singaporean Mandopop

Self-Portraits in Singaporean Mandopop is a central sequence of poems in my next collection and is inspired by Mandopop songs by Singaporean artists. The ways in which poems in this sequence interact with my chosen Mandopop songs are varied, including reinterpretations of lyrics (e.g. mistranslations and erasure poetry), reflections on personal relationships inspired by the subject matter of those songs (e.g. a song about the city’s longing is used as a launchpad to examine parental relationships), and structural decisions (e.g. a poem inspired by a song about miscommunication is written as an abecedarian). I am also interested in the presentation of Mandarin in a poem written in English for the consumption of an English-speaking audience, as well as the interactions and tensions between both languages on the page, how meaning is forged in each language system but also cumulatively. In these poems, Mandarin becomes another instrument in the symphony of language, playing its buoyant string of inflections against traditional, Anglophone poetic devices. The Singaporean perspective is thus rendered more identifiable in these songs and poems—its easy celebration of progress amid a palpable fear of loss.

Jerrold Yam is a Singaporean corporate lawyer based in London and the author of three poetry collections, most recently Intruder (Ethos Books). His poems have been published or are forthcoming in Poetry London, Magma, Ambit, Oxford Poetry, The London Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Straits Times and Washington Square Review. In 2024, he won the Cheltenham Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize for Poetry, the Magma Pamphlet Competition and The London Magazine Poetry Prize. He was a 2024 Writer-in-Residence at the UK’s National Centre for Writing and is working on his next book.

Header image credit: Kittitep Khotchalee via Unsplash.