Writing Indonesia from the ground up.
A Canadian writer whose work explores Indonesia from street level.
Books & longer work
Jakarta Jive
A ground-level portrait of Jakarta during the Asian financial crisis, the upheavals of 1998 and the fall of President Soeharto.
Bali Blues
Life in Kuta during the year after the 2002 Bali bombing, when grief and economic collapse transformed a community built around tourism.
Early Travel Books
Jeremy Allan's early travel writing on East Kalimantan and Yogyakarta for the Times Travel Library.
People, places, and the larger story
I am a Canadian writer who has lived in Indonesia for more than four decades.
Most of my work begins with a simple question: what do large events look like from street level, in the lives of people who have to live through them? That approach has taken me from the upheavals surrounding the fall of Soeharto in Jakarta, to the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombing, to the independence struggle, Indonesian art and photography, travel, and the everyday life of places I have known across the archipelago.
My books include Jakarta Jive and Bali Blues. I have also written and collaborated on books about Yogyakarta, East Kalimantan, Affandi, Indonesia’s independence struggle, and the history of photography in Indonesia, as well as articles, essays and commissioned work for publications, companies and cultural organisations.
Essays & articles
Alongside the books: essays, reporting, scripts, commissioned editorial work and collaborations on Indonesian history, art and photography.
Selected writing