Italian Book Tour Diary (May-June 2026)

ITALIAN BOOK TOUR DIARY

May-June 2026

La Notte dei Mille Inferi (Malam Seribu Jahanam) was translated by Antonia Soriente and Luigi Sausa and published by add editore in Italy. The book tour took place from 28 May to 4 June, 2026.

Thursday 28 May @ Libreria Tamu, Naples

At Libreria Tamu, in conversation with Francesca Bellino and my translators Antonia Soriente and Luigi Sausa. We talked about Islam—its many faces, its contradictions and textures in La notte dei mille inferi—and what it means to translate those textures from Indonesian into Italian. It's an honour and a rare opportunity to speak alongside the translators of my book. Antonia and Luigi also wrote a thoughtful essay about La Notte and its contexts, included at the end of the book (see last slides). A must read.

Friday 29 May @ Università di Napoli L'Orientale, Naples

At Università di Napoli L'Orientale, Gamelan Cahya Sumunar opened the conference (a beautiful surprise!). The students asked sharp, important questions about feminism. I was deeply impressed to see how Antonia brought everyone together--students present and past—and created a community.

Sunday 31 May @ Biblioteca Civica Nicolò e Paola Francone, Chieri

Part of the La Grande Invasione festival. In Chieri, in conversation with Simonetta Sciandivasci, with Alice Bertinotti as my English-Italian interpreter. Simonetta brought the conversation to family, care, the gothic, and the different roles of women in the novel. We also talked about writing with witches—who the witches are, and what it means to claim that word. (read my essay, “Summoning Literary Witches,” on Literary Hub).

Monday 1 June @ Cortile del Museo Garda, Ivrea

Part of the La Grande Invasione festival. In Ivrea, in conversation with Gabriella Dal Lago —again with Alice, who asked me about S. Rukiah to get all the details. Gabriella led us through the novel's multiple points of view, the house of Victoria and its supernatural elements, and how structure and character work together in the narrative.

Tuesday 3 June @ Libreria Nora book & coffee, Turin

Libreria Nora book & coffee is a café and bookstore specializing in gender studies, feminism and queer culture, located in Turin's historic Quadrilatero Romano neighborhood.

At Libreria Nora, I was again in conversation with Gabriella Dal Lago. What made this evening different was the language: for the first and only time on the tour, I spoke in Indonesian, with Elena Ricchitelli as my interpreter. I read the first page of La notte / Malam Seribu Jahanam in the original Indonesian, and Gabriella generously read the Italian translation. I thought a lot about the musicality of that opening when I wrote it, and I hope that travelled across.

I was unwell in Turin but I was lucky to have the chance to see the EXPOSED Torino Photo Festival (last day), where I saw "Long Live Women! Feminism in the Photographs of Paola Agosti" at the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento. It displays photographs of the Italian feminist movement of the 1970s: marches, assemblies, intimate portraits, kids, cats. I noticed that le streghe (witches) was used as a symbol of women's resistance.

I made a connection between le streghe in the women's movement and the witches in my book and my LitHub article, "Summoning Literary Witches," and brought this into the conversation at Nora —and carried it all the way to Rome.

Thursday 4 June @ Libreria Tuba, Rome

The tour ended at another feminist bookstore.

Like Nora in Turin, Libreria Tuba is a feminist bookshop (also a coffee shop and bar), a safe space for women’s creativity, words, desire, politics. A suitable venue for La notte dei mille inferi.

In conversation with Elvira Del Guercio and Cristina Petrucci. The witches thread I had carried from Turin arrived here: le streghe as symbols of women's resistance, the witches in my book, the witches in my LitHub essay.

The event was supported by KBRI Roma (the Indonesian Embassy in Rome). The following afternoon I took the chance to visit Galleria Borghese, which is conveniently close to the Embassy, and spent time with Caravaggio and the men with bad behaviour: Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Pluto and Proserpina (1621–22) and Apollo and Daphne (1622–25). Stories of abduction and unwanted pursuit. But there's also transformation here—as in La notte, where Grandmother Victoria can transform into a male tiger. Perhaps we should all have the power to turn into trees; like Daphne, we refuse to submit and choose to transform into something stronger, grounded and nourishing.