Arswendo Atmowiloto

Arswendo Atmowiloto (26 November 1948 – 19 July 2019) was an Indonesian journalist and writer. Considered one of Indonesia's most productive writers, he began his literary career in the 1970s and entered journalism in the 1980s. Following a controversial publication in 1990, he was imprisoned for subversion until 1993, though he continued his literary and journalistic work during and after his sentence.

Early life and education Arswendo was born as Sarwendo in Surakarta, Central Java on 26 November 1948. He later changed his forename to Arswendo and adopted his father's name, Atmowiloto, as a surname. After graduating from high school, Arswendo enrolled at the faculty of language and literature at a teacher's institute in Surakarta, but he did not complete his degree. He also undertook a creative writing course at the University of Iowa.

Career After he dropped out, Arswendo worked at various jobs, including in factories and as a ball boy. In 1971, he published his first short story, titled Sleko, in the Bahari magazine. Starting in 1972, he became the chair of the literature workshop at the Central Java cultural center in Solo, and by 1974 he had started working as a consultant to publishing house Subentra Citra Media.

During the 1980s, Arswendo wrote novel adaptations of the films Serangan Fajar and Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI. Tempo wrote in 1990 that Arswendo was "Indonesia's most productive writer".

Monitor affair and prison On 15 October 1990, Angry calls and various protests began to reach Monitor office as soon as 17 October, just two days after the publication. discontinued publication after it lost its government-issued license (with the license revoked on 23 October by then-Minister of Information Harmoko, who was a shareholder of Monitor)

He was officially taken into police custody on 26 October 1990, though he noted in an interview that he was not imprisoned prior to his sentencing – except for one day during a media visit. Arswendo was released from prison in August 1993.

Illness and death Arswendo died on 19 July 2019 at his home in Jakarta, about three weeks after an announcement that he had been suffering from prostate cancer for several months. His body was buried the following day at the San Diego Hills cemetery in Karawang. He married Agnes Sri Hartini in 1971, and had three children.