John H. McGlynn

Who is John H. McGlynn?

John H. McGlynn is an American editor and translator.

In 1987, along with four Indonesian writers, Goenawan Mohamad, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Umar Kayam, and Subagio Sastrowardoyo, he founded the Lontar Foundation with the aim of promoting Indonesian literature and culture to the international world through the translation of Indonesian literature. According to Goenawan Mohamad, "John works single-mindedly for our purpose: to bring Indonesian literary expressions to the world."

McGlynn first visited Indonesia in 1976 on a United States Department of Education scholarship to attend an advanced Indonesian language program at the Indonesian Teachers College in Malang. He then attended the University of Indonesia for a year, began working as a translator, then later returned to the United States to earn a Masters Degree in Indonesian Literature at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

McGlynn has translated or edited over 100 works, including translations of several of works by Pramoedya Ananta Toer which he published using his pen name, Willem Samuels, including The Mute's Soliloquy.