Ratna Indraswari

Ratna Indraswari (24 April 1949 – 28 March 2011), nicknamed the Queen of the Bees, was an Indonesian poet, author, and human rights activist. Paralyzed since the age of 10, she composed more than 400 short stories and novels during her life, including socially and critically engaged works such as the environmentalist Lemah Tanjung. She was also a notable figure in the Indonesian feminist and democratic movement.

Her work, primarily composing short stories, focuses on female figures, their journeys, and their ways of resisting power. It is described as oral literature because she dictated all her works.

Biography

Birth and youth Ratna Indraswari was born in Malang on 24 April 1949. She was the youngest of six children. Both her parents, Saleh Ibrahim and Siti Bidasari binti Arifin, were Minangkabau, although they lived in Malang, which is not predominantly Minangkabau. and obtained numerous books for her, which she read, thus familiarizing herself with literature from an early age. by joining various Indonesian organizations in the 1970s and 1980s. Indraswari died from the complications of a stroke on 28 March 2011.

Posterity The author was read in some Indonesian schools in the early 2020s.

Analysis Her feminist commitments are reflected in her literature, with her stating that she was inspired by Virginia Woolf.

The religiosity of women in her work is also a subject studied by researchers.