interview in English

AustraliaPlus: Agustinus Wibowo–Exploring the nomadic life of a travel writer

AustraliaPlus 16 Mar 2017 Agustinus Wibowo with Sastra Wijaya Indonesian travel writer and photographer Agustinus Wibowo recently appeared at the Perth Writers Festival. He is seen as a pioneer of a new genre of Indonesian travel literature, allowing readers to experience his physical, spiritual and emotional journey through his stories. Australia Plus talked to Agustinus to find out more. What are some of the things you discussed at the Perth Writers Festival? I had two sessions there. The first session was called Nomadic Lives with renowned Australian explorer and travel writer Tim Cope. One of the interesting questions that Tim and I discussed was whether we would call ourselves modern nomads. In my opinion, there’s a big difference between nomadism and travelling for our own sake. Nomads migrate up to four times a year (following the changes of season), but they have fixed places for their spring, summer, autumn and winter pastureland. They are still confined by borders – international or traditional ones – and the purpose of their travelling is for survival. By contrast, a modern traveller has much more freedom in choosing where to go and why. The other session I had was This Place Called Home, together [...]

March 20, 2017 // 6 Comments

Adventurer Agustinus Wibowo: A journey home

By Rory Howard China.org.cn, May 8, 2015 Agustinus Wibowo is a Chinese-Indonesian author. At first glance, he seems more like a traveler than an adventurer and more like a happy conversationalist than a philosopher. But just as my first impression of him is challenged by what I learn of him in our conversation, so too do we find in his latest book, “Ground Zero: When the Journey Takes You Home,” that his sense of self has been tested by his upbringing, his culture and his travels. Danger, charity, humanity Wibowo’s first two books – “A Blanket of Dust” and “Borderlines: A Journey to Central Asia” – tell of his earlier travels through Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. When asked what took him to these places, he answers that his journeys were governed by chance. “I wanted to be a journalist, but I didn’t have a background in journalism. The road itself is the best university,” he says. His journey began in China, the “land of his ancestors,” where he studied computer engineering for many years in Beijing before becoming disillusioned by education. He had no interest in pursuing a career in his field, so he decided he had to travel [...]

May 8, 2015 // 1 Comment

[Audio] UWRF2013: Memoir

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2013 Memoir : Bernice Chauly, Salena Godden, Agustinus Wibowo & Janet Steele In life there are short stories, big stories, stories that end well & ones that don’t. Would you share them all, or put a shiny & more exciting glaze over them? How do these writers go about writing their memoir – how much is truth & how much is fiction? Left Bank, 13 October 2013 http://www.ubudwritersfestival.com/audio/memoir-bernice-chauly-salena-godden-agustinus-wibowo-janet-steele/ Featuring: Bernice Chauly Bernice Chauly is a Malaysian writer, poet and teacher. Born in George Town, Penang, to Chinese-Punjabi teachers, she read Education and English Literature in Canada as a government scholar. For over 20 years, she has worked extensively in the creative industries as a writer, photographer, actor and film maker and has won multiple awards for her work and her contribution to the arts. In 1998, she began organising literary events and, in 2005, founded Readings and CeritAku, which continue to be important platforms for established and emerging writers and poets in Kuala Lumpur. In 2011, she was Festival Director for the Writers Unlimited Tour Kuala Lumpur/Makassar and invited to be Festival Curator of the George Town Literary Festival in Penang, now in its [...]

December 5, 2013 // 0 Comments