Acclaimed Writer Goenawan Mohamad to Receive Japan Foundation Awards

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Prominent writer Goenawan Mohamad is listed to be one of the recipients of The Japan Foundation Award 2022, which has been awarded since 1973. He will be awarded the honor along with Canadian playwright Robert Lepage and the Korean Japanese Association.

Goenawan came to Japan in 1997 under the Asia Leadership Fellowship co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the International House of Japan, and he began the intellectual exchange with the country from that time. 

Goenawan Mohamad, Robert Lepage, and the Korean Japanese Association were selected after screening 74 nominees nominated by experts and the general public. Novelist Haruki Murakami was among the renowned people to receive this honor in 2012.

The award ceremony will take place on October 19, when Goenawan Mohamad plans to receive the title in person, then give a public lecture.

The Japan Foundation Awards honor individuals and organizations for significant contributions to the enhancement of mutual understanding between Japan and other countries, citing the press statement Tempo received on September 27.

Goenawan Mohamad came to Japan in 1997 under the Asia Leadership Fellowship which was co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the International House of Japan. From then on he started an intellectual exchange with the country.

Goenawan Mohamad is widely known as one of the intellectual giants in Asia with achievements in the field of journalism, civic activism, poetry, and playwriting. Apart from being known as the founder of the weekly magazine Tempo back in 1971, his efforts to fight for press freedom and civil rights in the New Order era were widely acclaimed.

He was also a recipient of the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism from the Harvard University Nieman Fellowship in 1997.

Among the many international accolades, Goenawan Mohamad also received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 1998, and the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 1998. He also received the Editor of The Year award from the World Press Review in 1999.

As his work as a journalist became successful, he expanded his activities to include the fields of poetry, drama, and the fine arts, each in which he exercised his talents and through which he made a contribution to art in general along with his writings.

This is demonstrated clearly by his foundation of the Komunitas Salihara Arts Center, a full-fledged center for the promotion of the arts based on Indonesian culture. He was also awarded the French Order of Arts and Culture and the Indonesian Order of Culture during this time.

JAPAN FOUNDATION | DANIEL AHMAD

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