Oka Rusmini

Who is Oka Rusmini?

Oka Rusmini, the poet and novelist, was born on 11 July 1967 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Presently, she lives in Denpasar, Bali. Her writing is characteristic of the condition of women in the patriarchal culture in traditional society.

Oka has to her credit collections of short stories, poems and novels. Oka's poem has also been included along with twelve other Balinese contributors in a book entitled Bali Living in Two Worlds, edited by Urs Ramseyer from the Museum der Kulturen Basel in Switzerland.

She has also served as the fashion editor in the Bali Post, the largest local newspaper in Bali. She has been speaking at various national and international literary forums, such as "Ubud Writers and Readers Festival" in Bali; the "Pulpit Poet 21st Century" at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta in 1996; ASEAN Writers Writing Program, 1997; "International Poetry Festival", Surakarta, 2002 and that in Denpasar, Bali in 2003. She represented Indonesia at the "Winternachten Literature Festival" in The Hague and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2003, she was invited as a guest author at the University of Hamburg, Germany.