Literary recognition: Author Intan Paramaditha holds a copy of her novel Night Of A Thousand Hells, a finalist for the 2026 U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature. Originally written in Indonesian as Malam Seribu Jahanam, it was translated by Stephen J. Epstein and Tiffany Tsao.
- Intan Paramaditha’s Night Of A Thousand Hells is the first Indonesian work to reach the 2026 US National Book Award Translated Literature final, with the winner due on Nov. 18.
- The novel mixes Indonesian folklore, Islamic mysticism, migration, class politics and sisterhood across Indonesia, the US and Australia, and Intan says it questions violence and exclusion.
- Intan welcomed the honour but said it shows Indonesian literature has long been treated as minor; the book is also gaining readers in the UK, Italy and soon Australia and New Zealand.
JAKARTA – Intan Paramaditha’s novel Night Of A Thousand Hells, translated by Stephen J. Epstein and Tiffany Tsao, has become the first work by an Indonesian writer to reach the finalist stage of the 2026 National Book Award in the Translated Literature category.
Originally published in Indonesian as Malam Seribu Jahanam by Gramedia Pustaka Utama in 2023, the novel is now in the running for one of the most prestigious literary awards in the United States. The award has recognized translated literature since 2018.
Independent publisher Europa Editions, which released the novel
Independent publisher Europa Editions, which released the novel in the US, congratulated Intan, Epstein and Tsao on their selection in an Instagram post, sharing the judges’ assessment of the book.
“The novel blends Indonesian folklore and Islamic mysticism in an examination of social mobility, migration and sisterhood set across Indonesia, the United States and Australia,” the judges wrote.
Intan welcomed the recognition but cautioned against treating it as proof of the inherent merit of Indonesian literature.
These milestones do not mean that our books
“These milestones do not mean that our books are exceptional and the rest of Indonesian literature is not. They mean that our literature has been treated as minor,” Intan told The Jakarta Post.
She said Indonesian literature remained little known abroad despite the country’s population of more than 280 million, citing geopolitical factors and decisions about which countries’ stories deserve to be translated.
Intan also pointed to earlier international recognition for Indonesian literature, including Tiffany Tsao’s translation of Budi Darma’s People From Bloomington, which won the PEN Translation Prize, and Eka Kurniawan’s Man Tiger, originally published as Lelaki Harimau, which became the first Indonesian novel to be longlisted for the International Booker Prize.
Set across Indonesia, the US and Australia, Night
Set across Indonesia, the US and Australia, Night Of A Thousand Hells explores social mobility, migration and female solidarity through Indonesian folklore and Islamic storytelling traditions. It weaves together family histories, horror, religion, class politics and questions surrounding care work.
Intan said the novel critiques Indonesia’s dominant Muslim middle-class culture while raising broader questions about how dominant groups foster complicity in violence and exclusion in the name of family, sisterhood and belonging.
“I wanted to turn the mirror towards our own comfort zones,” she said. “It’s an Indonesian story, but the questions are for everyone.”
The novel has also found an audience
The novel has also found an audience in the United Kingdom, where online news outlet The Independent named it Novel of the Month following its UK release on Oct. 8. An edition for Australia and New Zealand is scheduled for February next year.
The book has also been published in Italian, with French and Polish editions forthcoming.
Intan said readers in different countries had responded to different aspects of the novel. Some English-language reviewers focused on its connections to works such as King Lear, One Thousand And One Nights and the Quranic and biblical story of Yusuf, or Joseph. Some Italian readers, meanwhile, were drawn to the Indonesian female ghost kuntilanak, linking the figure to a history of patriarchal control.
“What moved me most is that reviewers in both languages have recognized the novel’s formal ambition,” Intan said.
Yes, they engage with its themes of violence,
“Yes, they engage with its themes of violence, class tension, feminism and religion, but they also appreciate how the novel is constructed. The book is built around four voices that contradict one another, weaving together fairy tales, diary fragments, newspaper clippings and a story within the story, with a plot that moves forward and backward in time.”
Among the finalists
Organized by the National Book Foundation, the National Book Award is one of the most prominent literary prizes in the US. Now in its 77th year, it recognizes books in five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People’s Literature.
The Translated Literature category recognizes both the author and translator of a winning book. Previous recipients include Japanese writer Yoko Tawada in 2018 and Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai in 2019, who later received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Selected from 159 submissions and a 10-book longlist,
Selected from 159 submissions and a 10-book longlist, Intan’s novel is among five finalists in the category.
The other finalists are Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The School of Night, translated by Martin Aitken; Spanish writer Vicente Luis Mora’s Centroeuropa, translated by Rahul Bery; Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s Pure Men, translated by Lara Vergnaud; and Syrian writer Samar Yazbek’s Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices of Survival and Witness in Gaza, translated by Leri Price.
The winner will be announced in New York on Nov. 18. – THE JAKARTA POST/ANN
