Background
Mihardja was born on March 6, 1911, in Garut, West Java. His father, a bank manager, had a collection of books which Mihardja credited with sparking his interest in literature.
Mihardja was born on March 6, 1911, in Garut, West Java. His father, a bank manager, had a collection of books which Mihardja credited with sparking his interest in literature.
Australian National University. University of Indonesia.
He is best known for his novel, Atheis, which was published in 1949. Atheis is considered one of Indonesia"s most important literary works following World World War World War II Mihardja worked as a journalist early in his career. The book is considered as one of Indonesia"s most important modern literary works.
Mihardja helped to found Lekra, an Indonesian writers" organization tied to the Communist Party of Indonesia, in 1950.
He was also a major figure in Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association Club Indonesia during the mid-1950s, seeking international connections with such figures as English poet Stephen Spender and helping to host African American novelist Richard Wright during his visit to Indonesia for the 1955 Bandung Conference. He would later speak about his relationship with Sukarno, "We were best friends but not in terms of ideology..Worse, out of the blue he banned my party."
In 1961, Mihardja became a professor Indonesian literature and language at Australian National University on invitation from the university.
He ultimately chose to settle in Canberra in Australia in the 1960s where he lived for more than 40 years. However he continued to receive recognitions for his work in Indonesia.
He was awarded Indonesia"s arts award in 1971.
His last visit to Indonesia was in June 2005. He described the main message of the 2005 novel as "God made man to be His representative on earth, not that of Satan." In 2009 Mihardja expressed an interest in writing his autobiography but he was unable to complete this work. Achdiat Karta Mihardja suffered a stroke in July 2010.
He died of complications in Canberra on July 8, 2010 at the age of 99.
He was buried in Canberra on the same day.
Mihardja was a member of the Socialist Party of Indonesia, which was banned in 1960 by his friend, President Sukarno.