Gol A Gong and Dorothea Rosa Herliany are the famous senior writers. Gol A Gong was very popular in the 80’s and 90’s with his novel ‘Balada si Roy’. He focused on pop literature. Meanwhile, Dorothea Rosa Herliany was a well-respected and qualified female poet. She well-knowns for her works since the 90s. She was also the founder of Indonesiatera. It was a quite prestigious publishing institution amongs literary publishers.
Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province presented these famous senior writers virtually. They greeted young short story writers in the short story writing workshop for East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan high school students, 12 June 2021. Besides, they also shared some knowledges of short story writing. Gol A Gong started his presentation by inviting the participants to talk about the creative process of authorship. Furthermore, he introduced a form of short story writing that is currently popular among the millennial generation, namely mini fiction story. The participants followed his directions enthusiastically in practicing the mini fiction story writing.
The second speaker, Dorothea Rosa Herliany invited participants to look in detail patiently at the building blocks of a short story by presenting a simple short story model. She proffered the tips. She emphasize several important things to pay attention when writing a short story, even in the simplest story, such as (a) a conflict, try to emerge conflict for making the short story run, and (b) the closer things, write down a short story that we have sufficient knowledge of the material or idea.
As the Indonesian Reading Ambassador (2021–2025), Gol A Gong left a message at the end of his presentation “Reading is health, Writing is great” (Gol A Gong, Indonesian Reading Ambassador, Empowered with Books).
The literature workshop started from 08.00 to 15.00. It was attended approximately100 participants from East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan and involved Amien Wangsitalaja as moderator. Practically, the participants interested, felt proud, and got valuable experiences to greet and close to senior writers, even on virtual media.***
Translated by Muhammad Erwin Darma