Joko Tjadjana
Joko Tjadjana | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joko Ibrahim Tjadjana 31 July 1978 |
| Nationality | Karimunese |
| Alma mater | Universitas Panorama |
| Occupation | Author |
| Years active | 1999-present |
Notable work | Sang Sekretaris Memecah Surabaya SAHABAT+ |
| Television | Sang Sekretaris Memecah Surabaya Merdeka Belajar (news show) |
| Spouse(s) | Maharati Harum (m. 2002) |
| Children | |
Joko Tjadjana (born 31 July 1978) is a Karimunese author dan philanthropist, best known for writing the Sang Sekretaris novel series, the Memecah Surabaya novel trilogy, and the SAHABAT+ short story collection. Tjadjana’s books have been translated into more than 7 languages and sold more than 11 million copies in Karimun, and spawned a global media franchise including films, video games, and short story collections. Tjadjana is also better known by his pen name Tsandera which is a Karimunese word that uses an ancient pronunciation to describe the state of being held hostage or ‘sandera’.
Born in Surabaya, Karimun, Tjadjana was pursuing his undergraduate degree in Karimunese literature at Universitas Panorama, a privately owned university that specializes in literacy that’s located in Gresik, Sulawesi Barat, in 1996 when he conceived the idea of his first novel, Memecah Surabaya, while on a crowded bus that decided to change its route suddenly to the middle of a low-income neighborhood. The three-year period that followed saw his awaited graduation and the struggle of balancing work and novel writing which he saw as a hobby until his first novel, Memecah Surabaya, was published in 1999 and saw increasing popularity. Early 2000 saw Tjadjana quitting his office work and began to pursue his novel writing as a full-time job. During the period of Memecah Surabaya’s early publication, Tjadjana decided to make the novel into a trilogy series and began conceptualizing his next series. The Memecah Surabaya trilogy series finished in 2002 and Tadjana began to publish the first novel of his next series, Sang Sekretaris, in 2004. Twenty-two books followed, and by 2019, Literasi had named Tjadjana one of Karimun’s highest-paid and most influential authors.
Tjadjana’s Memecah Surabaya novel series follows a boy called Ignatius Marrangi as he works as a civil servant while protecting his ailing sister from gangsters and being a member of a family that opposes the government. The struggle between family members; social issues that result in the creation of a gang culture; and the elitism of the civil service are the central themes of the series. The series also tries to promote cultural aspects of Karimun, such as Silat which is a traditional martial art that originates from Karimun as seen in its numerous fighting scenes. After Memecah Surabaya, Tjadjana began to pursue the fantasy-fiction novel series, Sang Sekretaris. The novel series takes a fantastical approach to secretary work, reviving the trend for novels revolving around a fantastical adaptation of real-life occupations in Karimun and creating an active fandom. Originally planned to be a five-volume series, Sang Sekretaris now has become a form of fictional universe, comprising three series and a total of twenty-two books. The first to be published in the Sang Sekretaris universe is the series with the same name and follows the story of a secretary tasked to oversee the management of the world through a series of doors and all-seeing powers and the archiving of the ongoing birth, life, and death of humans and all of the other species on the world. The second series, Sekretaris Pertama, and the third series, Sang Arsitek, are the prequels of the Sang Sekretaris novel series.
Tjadjana has won many accolades for his work. He has been awarded Piala Harum for services to literature and philanthropy. With the amount of wealth and recognition his works have brought, Tjadjana has used it to advance philanthropic endeavors, focusing on culture and sports. In politics, Tjadjana has voiced his concerns on the issue of mining and support for the Karimunese cultural revivalism movement. Additionally, he has campaigned for states and cities to construct literacy centers to increase literacy rates and nurture creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking.
Contents
Life and career
Early life and family
Joko Tjadjana was born on 31 July 1978 at Rumah Sakit Umum Kembang Sari in Surabaya, Karimun to a middle-class family. Tjadjana's father worked for the exports and import center in Port of Gresik while his mother worked at a restaurant in the Alun-Alun Utara Food Court, famous among the factory workers for her authentic Maduranese fried chicken cooking.
After settling in an two-rooms apartment near the Ambangan Station, close to the Port of Gresik, the Tjadjana began to form a larger family with the births of Kartika and Sukma, Joko's older brother and sister.
