Jakarta. Indonesian author Eliza Vitri Handayani has had mixed experiences of the local literary scene, from bitter – like having her book launch cancelled by authorities – to sweet and rewarding ones like organizing a much-lauded art exhibition called "House of the Unsilenced" that offered a safe space for sexual violence survivors to speak up and tell their stories.

Like Julita, the main character in her novel "Mulai Sekarang Semuanya Akan Berubah" ("From Now On Everything Will Be Different," published by Vagabond Press in 2015), Eliza has found that to find the courage to make radical choices in her career, she has to go through a lot of struggle to overcome her fears.

Eliza has been writing since she was a teenager and won the National Film Center screenwriting competition in 1999 when she was still in high school.

She told the Jakarta Globe in an interview on Thursday (04/10) that her writing is very personal and that her main motivation is simple: to write with honesty.

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