On Sunday, 21 July 2024, at 16.00 WIB, at the Jejak Imaji Community Secretariat, Banguntapan, Bantul, a literary community discussion was held. The discussion was held as one of the agendas to commemorate the decade-long journey of the Jejak Imaji community. The community has produced several poetry and short story writers who were published in many mass media and won a number of writing competitions. The celebration was held for approximately one week, from 20-28 July 2024 with a variety of agendas presenting 40 writers, artists, academics, culturalists, literacy activists, and musicians.

At the literary community discussion event, Saeful Anwar, a lecturer at the Indonesian Language and Literature Study Programme, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, said that there are three general trends of literary communities in Yogyakarta, namely those that offer celebrations of works, discussions to legitimise works, and relationships to expand the perspective of the work. For Anwar, Jejak Imaji is the third type of community, where members find space to collaborate together in entering the world of literature.

Yogyakarta, August 13, 2024 – The Faculty of Humanities of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) successfully held the inaugural lecture for new undergraduate students of the Class of 2024 with the theme “The Role of Humanities in the 21st Century”. The event was held on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, from 08.00 WIB to 11.00 WIB at Soegondo Building, UGM. Facing the number of participants reaching 700 people, this inaugural lecture was held offline at Soegondo Auditorium and online in various classes that had been determined. The division of rooms for this event was as follows:

– Soegondo Auditorium: Students of the Cultural Anthropology, Indonesian Language and Literature, and Tourism Study Programs.

– Soegondo Room 707: Students of the Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture, French Language and Literature, and History programs.

– Soegondo Room 625+627: Students of Korean Language and Culture Study Program.

– Soegondo Room 521+522: Students of the English Literature Study Program.

– Soegondo Room 407+409: Students of the Arabic Literature Study Program.

– Soegondo Room 310: Students of Japanese Language and Culture Study Program.

– Soegondo Room 226+227: Students of the Archaeology Study Program.

The event was attended by Heads of Departments and Heads of Undergraduate Study Programs (S1) and guided by the moderator, Dr. Wulan Tri Astuti, S.S., M.A.. This event certainly presents excellent speakers: Prof. Dr. Fadlil Munawaar Manshur, M.S., Prof. Dr. Bambang Hudayana, M.A., Prof. Dr. Sangidu, M.Hum., and Prof. Dr. Hendrokumoro, M.Hum. The speakers gave in-depth presentations on the contribution and relevance of the humanities in the context of the 21st century, providing valuable insights for the new students to start their academic journey. With high enthusiasm and spirit, new students are expected to absorb knowledge and inspiration from this inaugural lecture to build useful knowledge in the field of humanities.

The Faculty of Cultural Sciences has many talented young students whose potential has been recognized by many people, one of them is Alya Ranti Azzahra. The student who is often called Alya, has succeeded in publishing 4 printed books which have been distributed on Gramedia, one of them has been filmed in cinemas & the other one has also been serialized on Genflix. This young woman from West Java is currently studying at the Indonesian Language and Literature department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University. At just 22 years old, she has already achieved many achievements. She admitted that she had loved reading and writing since childhood. She often took part in competitions and won. That is what then motivated her to take her writing talent more seriously.

In 2018, the rise ofphenomenon made Alya interested in writing and publishing work on that platform. Her first work, entitled The Other Side, has so far been read 23 million times. Since then, her works began to be recognized by readers and she began to write consistently. In 2020, the novel entitled The Other Side was published by Pastel Books, PT Mizan Pustaka. The novel was then filmed nationally in Indonesian cinemas by PT. Lingkar Karya Pratama and broadcast on March 17th 2022. In addition, her work entitled Broken Memories was broadcast on Genflix and succeeded in occupying the second highest position in the most watched series.

Alya admits that she feels happy when writing. According to her, she can express whatever is in her head without having to communicate it directly. “Because my mind is quite full and I like to imagine many things, I feel that writing is a ‘container’ for me. On the other hand, I think writing is like sharing feelings with other people. I can also create a new world. Also, I can express myself through the characters I create in the story.” She said on January 25th 2024 when she was asked about the reason why she liked writing so much. Furthermore, she also shared several tips for writing and producing work, such as:

• Always write from heart! It sounds classic, but anything written from the heart will definitely reach other hearts. Write sincerely and position yourself as if you are the character you are writing about.
• Consistent! Consistency in writing stories is really necessary. Especially as a digital writer. Readers are more likely to read our writing when we consistently write stories.
• Want to learn. You can start by learning about writing from writing books, writing seminars, and writers who have written before to find out writing tips. Apart from that, you also want to learn to develop yourself. Because now social media is developing very quickly.
• Read lots of books! To become a writer, of course you have to read a lot of books to find inspiration and increase your vocabulary.
• Be open to all suggestions and criticism, often chat with lots of people, be more sensitive to the environment around us because many new and brilliant ideas come from it.

In closing, Alya gives advice to the prospective writers that when we decide to become writers, we give our whole body and soul to the writing. We have to really like the world of writing. Write a story honestly and from the heart. Always be open to suggestions and criticism, often chat with people, & never stop learning. Just have fun writing, but don’t forget to come from the heart! She hopes that her journey to achieve success can motivate and provide valuable lessons for many people.