Putu Oka Sukanta, born into a low-caste Balinese family in 1939, began writing poetry and short stories in high school. In the early 1960s, after university studies in Yogyakarta, he moved to Jakarta where he taught high school and began to mix with leftist artists and writers. Sukanta never formally joined the Indonesian Communist Party but in 1965, when Soeharto wrested control of the country, he found himself targeted by the military. Although he escaped with his life, he was detained w...