A Collaboration Forged in Words: Pat Walsh and Indonesia's Troubled Histories

The enduring publishing collaboration between Indonesian editor Ining Isaiyas and Australian author Pat Walsh is chronicled through their shared work on books addressing Indonesia's complex histories. Their first encounter in 2013 was during a tense meeting concerning the "Chega!" report on Timor-Leste, a 3,000-page document requiring printing and shipping to Dili within the same year. Isaiyas recalls Walsh's attentive listening and his methodical approach to problem-solving. A subsequent taxi ride through Jakarta's gridlock led to their first personal conversation. Walsh's mention of studying at a seminary sparked a sense of trust in Isaiyas, alongside a quiet skepticism about an Australian's persistent engagement with Timor-Leste, Papua, and Aceh. This collaboration, initially unexpected, proved both lasting and significant. In the pre-AI era of 2013, Walsh became a regular presence at Isaiyas's publishing house, KPG, intensely overseeing the final stages of the "Chega!" report. Walsh's small habits, like his consistent arrival times and daily coffee from the downstairs café, became familiar to the staff. During a lunch discussion about his work on human rights, Walsh offered a smile and a pause, which Isaiyas likened to a video store attendant explaining his deep knowledge of films. This question later turned inward for Isaiyas: why, as an Indonesian, was he not paying closer attention to these issues? In late 2015, Isaiyas shifted careers to open a coffee shop in Yogyakarta. Walsh supported this move by hosting a book discussion for his work "Stormy with a Chance of Fried Rice" at the new establishment. Walsh remarked that running a coffee shop and editing books share a commonality: "selecting something for others." However, Isaiyas's refined taste in coffee and niche literary preferences did not translate into a large market. This led to his return to the book industry within two years, though he had also been involved in indexing the Portuguese edition of "Chega!" concurrently. Their last in-person meeting was at Isaiyas's coffee shop in February 2016. Over the next eight to nine years, they collaborated on at least five books, communicating solely via email. This sustained trust across distances, from Jakarta to Melbourne, is seen as a "small miracle of modern life." Among these works, "A Window on Our Street: Sondering through Covid-19 in Northcote" left a profound impact, introducing Isaiyas to the concept of 'sonder' – the realization that every passerby lives a life as vivid and complex as one's own. Source: Inside Indonesia