Indonesia is a secular country and not a Muslim country as most people in the world have thought. Around 20% of the 254 million population are Christian Protestant and Roman Catholic, but we are living among the biggest Muslim population in the world. And how many Christian authors have we had so far?
Let me give you a tour… from one Christian book store to another… and let us have a
look. How many local books written by local Christian authors are displayed on their shelfs? I can see your eyes are searching and you have trouble finding one among so many translations of books written by international Christian authors.
How about having a tour from one Christian publisher to another? Let us open their catalogue, and you will amazed by so many famous familiar names like Phillip Yancey, Joyce Meyer, John Maxwell, Les Parrott, John Stott, Matthew Henry… When you open and read the copyright page, you will find Tyndale, Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, Lion-Hudson, Baker, IVP…
Oh, we have very good books written by Eka Dharmaputera, Andar Ismail, Ayub Yahya and Xavier Quentin which have been published by Indonesian Christian publishers, but the authors are few. It is hard to find new and young Indonesian Christian authors whose books get published, local writers who write with the freshness of contextual theology for Indonesian people, with the richness of our multicultural society, and with an Indonesian way of thinking delivering the message straight to the hearts of Indonesian readers in their heart language.
Salty and bright Indonesian Christian writers who will speak in a friendly way to 254 million people in their writings are WANTED!
Eva Kristiaman of Indonesia responded to the writing prompt, “Why is it important that more Christian authors in your country write and get published?” Learn how you can submit articles and win cash in the LittWorld 2012 writing contest, “Blogging for Global Impact.”
Photo above courtesy Surachai, FreeDigitalPhotos