Sergius Seeks Bacchus is a heartbreaking and humorous rumination on what it means to be in the minority in terms of sexuality, ethnicity, and religion. Drawing on the poet's life as an openly gay writer of Bataknese descent and Christian background, the collection furnishes readers with an alternative gospel, a book of bittersweet and tragicomic good news pieced together from encounters with ridicule, persecution, loneliness, and also happiness. The thirty-three poems in Norman Pasaribu's prize-winning debut display a thrilling diversity of style, length, and tone, and telescope out from individual experience to that of fellow members of the queer community, finding inspiration equally in the work of great Indonesian poets and the international literary canon, from Aeschylus to Herta Muller.

About the Author
Norman Erikson Pasaribu was born in Jakarta in 1990. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the Indonesian State College of Accounting and worked for Indonesian's tax office for almost six years before resigning in 2016 to pursue writing. His debut poetry collection Sergius Mencari Bacchus (Sergius Seeks Bacchus) won first prize in the 2015 Jakarta Arts Council Poetry Manuscript Competition. The book was also shortlisted in the 2016 Khatulistiwa Literary Award for Poetry. Tiffany Tsao translates from Indonesian into English. Her work includes Norman Erikson Pasaribu's poetry collection Sergius Seeks Bacchus (winner of the PEN Presents and PEN Translates awards) and the novels Paper Boats by Dee Lestari and The Birdwoman's Palate by Laksmi Pamuntjak. She is currently working with Norman on translations of his fiction.

Awards
Winner of PEN Translates 2019. Short-listed for NSW Premier's Translation Prize 2021.



Book Information
ISBN 9781911284239
Author Norman Erikson Pasaribu
Format Paperback
Imprint Tilted Axis Press
Publisher Tilted Axis Press