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Sri Koesnapsijah

Indonesian writer

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About Sri Koesnapsijah

Sri Koesnapsijah was an Indonesian writer.

Sri Koesnapsijah (EYD: Sri Kusnapsiah, born ) was a Javanese language writer and activist of the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia who was among the generation of Indonesian women writers active in the 1930s. She was known for her short stories and articles which she published in the magazine in the 1930s and 1940s, where she was also an assistant editor. After Indonesian independence she was active in the Communist Party-affiliated Gerwani movement, and was briefly a representative of the Communist Party in the Jakarta-area consultative body DPR-GR. She was arrested in late 1965 during the anti-communist repression of the Transition to the New Order and imprisoned without charge for the following decade.

Biography Sri Koesnapsijah was born into a Javanese family in Kemiri village, Kutoarjo, Central Java, Dutch East Indies in around 1910, although some sources state that she was born in Semarang. Her father was a pawn shop employee. That magazine published a number of other Javanese women writers in that era, including Rara Koestijah, Rara Sudarmin, Srikanah K., Sri Melati, and Sri Marhaini. At that time it was still rare for Indonesian women to have their writings published; the first Indonesian women novelists were only published in the mid-1930s (figures such as Suwarsih Djojopuspito, Saadah Alim, Sariamin Ismail, and Fatimah Hasan Delais) although women journalists had been printed since the 1910s. Unlike those writers, however, Koesnapsijah did not publish in the government publishing house Balai Pustaka. Her best-known piece was the 1942 short story which was published in . The organization's original name was (Gerwis, the Conscious Women's Movement); Koesnapsijah acted as general secretary at the inaugural conference in June 1950, which was chaired by Tris Metty, Umi Sardjono and S. K. Trimurti. Later in the 1950s she was on the Jakarta regional committee of Gerwani.

In late 1965, during the Transition to the New Order and the anti-communist repression in Indonesia, she was arrested and detained without trial.

The circumstances and time of her death are unknown.

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Important facts

Occupation
Nationality
Also known as
Sri Kusnapsiyah, Sri Kusnapsiah

Frequently asked questions

Who was Sri Koesnapsijah?

Indonesian writer

What was Sri Koesnapsijah's occupation?

Sri Koesnapsijah was a writer.

What nationality was Sri Koesnapsijah?

Sri Koesnapsijah was Indonesian.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Sri Koesnapsijah

· Wikidata: Q31173704

· DBpedia: Sri Koesnapsijah

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Sri Koesnapsijah. https://biography.guide/sri-koesnapsijah/

MLA: "Sri Koesnapsijah." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/sri-koesnapsijah/.

Chicago: "Sri Koesnapsijah." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/sri-koesnapsijah/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-21 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Portrait: Wikimedia Commons · author & licence

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