text: clara ng clara ng ( born 28 july 1973 ; née clara regina juana , last name pronounced [ ŋ ̍ ] ) is an indonesian writer who is known for both adult fiction and children 's literature . during her childhood in jakarta , ng enjoyed reading and read at an advanced rate . after finishing her primary and secondary education in indonesia , during which time she took up writing , ng went to the united states to study at ohio state university . after her graduation in 1997 , she worked in the us for a year before returning to indonesia to work at a shipping company . after three years working there , in which time she married and had two miscarriages , ng quit to become a professional writer . her first novel , tujuh musim setahun ( seven seasons in a year ; 2002 ) , sold poorly , but her subsequent trilogy indiana chronicle was better received . since then , she has released several novels , as well as numerous short stories ( including one anthology ) and twenty - one children 's books , and some collections of fairytales . ng , who is a stay at home mother , writes in her spare time at home . her topics are different depending on the genre she is writing in ; her adult - oriented works often deal with minority groups , while her children 's books are meant to teach empathy . her children 's works have won three adhikarya awards from the indonesian publishers association , and lgbt groups have praised her novel gerhana kembar ( twin eclipse ; 2007 ) for avoiding stereotyping the group . however , some educators have protested the lack of an explicit moral message in her children 's books . biography early life ng was born in jakarta on 28 july 1973 with the name clara regina juana and raised in the kemayoran sub - district . she took up reading at a young age , reportedly capable of reading translations of the adventures of tintin by kindergarten . she also enjoyed hans christian andersen 's fairytale the snow queen , which influenced her writing . by age 11 she was reading adult - oriented works by mira w. ng attended budi mulia elementary school from 1979 until 1986 , then attended van lith middle school until 1989 ; it was while in middle school that she taught herself creative writing and began creating works . she completed her high school education at bunda hati kudus , graduating in 1992 . while in high school , she became interested in social issues , including discrimination faced by ethnic chinese , lgbt , and women . after high school , ng went to the united states and began studying at ohio dominican university in columbus , ohio , but later transferred to ohio state university ; she graduated with a bachelour 's degree in interpersonal communications in 1997 . while in the us , she read numerous children 's books ; these later influenced her own writings . after graduating , she spent a year working in the us before returning to indonesia in 1998 . upon her return to indonesia , she spent three years working in the human resources department of hanjin shipping but left after she had two miscarriages , the first when she was seven months pregnant and the second at seven weeks . while staying at home , she took up writing . writing career ng made her debut as a novelist with tujuh musim setahun ( seven seasons a year ) in 2002 , which sold poorly . she gained recognition with her indiana chronicle trilogy , which consists of blues ( 2004 ) , lipstick ( 2005 ) and bridesmaid ( 2005 ) . these works were classified as pop literature , but readers identified with the main characters — urban working women . tempo magazine notes that the trilogy pioneered the genre in indonesia . between and bridesmaid , another novel , the ( un ) reality show , was released in 2005 . in 2006 , ng 's short story " rahasia bulan " ( " the moon 's secret " ) was included in a lesbian and gay themed short story collection of the same name . the work also included stories by alberthiene endah , djenar maesa ayu , and indra herlambang . that year , she published two novels : terakhir ( the last dim sum ) and utukki : para dewa ( utukki : wings of the gods ) . the following year ng published another two novels , tiga venus ( three venuses ) and gerhana kembar ( twin eclipse ) . the latter , which was initially run as a serial in the newspaper kompas and later picked up by gramedia , was about lesbianism . the title was a result of ng combining the sun ( commonly representative of men ) and the moon ( commonly representative of women ) to create a united symbol to represent homosexuality . ng launched a short story collection , jatuh ( fallen angel ) in 2008 . the collection dealt mainly with death . the collection was followed in 2009 by the novel tea for two , which was first published as a serial in kompas . ng 's short story " barbie " was adapted as a film by actor - cum - presenter raffi ahmad in 2010 , with yuni shara in the titular role . barbie followed the story of a night - club singer and her lover , a security guard at the club . the film premiered at the la lights indie movie festival . that same year she released two other books , dongeng tujuh menit ( the seven - minute fairytale ) and - varaiya ( varaiya 's incantations ) . another one of her short stories , " mata indah " , was included in the lesbian - themed anthology un soir du paris ( an evening in paris ) ; other writers in the anthology included seno gumira ajidarma , ucu agustin , and noor . in 2010 , ng , agus noor , and eka kurniawan established the fiksimini community on facebook as a way to critique each other 's work , later branching out to twitter . as of 2011 the community , with approximately 70 , 000 followers , allows writers , both professional and aspiring , to tweet an idea within the 140 - character technical limitations of the software which could make the reader think . on 1 july 2011 , ng published drama cinta ( love potion drama ) , and in november she released dongeng sekolah ( fairytales from the school on the cliff ) , a collection of 53 stories about children who attend a school on a cliff . aside from writing novels and short stories , she also writes children 's books , a genre which she entered due to a lack of indonesian - language works . as of 2008 , ng has written 21 such books in three series : berbagi cerita berbagi cinta ( sharing stories , sharing love ; started in 2006 and numbering seven books ) , sejuta warna pelangi ( a million colours of the rainbow ; started in 2007 and numbering nine books ) , and bagai bumi ( as if the earth stopped rotating ; started in 2008 and numbering five books ) . style ng 's main characters are generally female . these characters generally do not hold the same employment ; some occupations held by her characters include office worker , animal nursery employee , and automotive repair shop owner . her children 's stories are written simply , illustrated , and deal with children 's feelings ; they are intended to give children more empathy . the characters ' names are chosen to be easy to remember . reception ng has received several awards . her 2006 children 's story pascal ( pascal 's hair , from the berbagi cerita series ) won an adhikarya award for best children 's book from the indonesian publishers association ( penerbit indonesia , or ) . the following year she won the same award for sejuta warna pelangi . another followed suit in 2008 for jangan bilang siapa - siapa ( don 't tell anybody ) . a. junaidi , writing for the jakarta post , notes that gerhana kembar was well received by indonesia 's lgbt community as it did not link homosexuality to negative issues like drug use . ng notes that her children 's stories have been generally well received . however , some educators disagree with the lack of an explicit moral message ; ng argues that her books have multiple interpretations : those by children and those by adults . personal life as of 2010 , ng is married to nicholas ng , a malaysian citizen whom she met while working at hanjin shipping ; the couple married in 2000 . together they have two children . she lives in tanjung duren , west jakarta . according to an interview with kompas , ng is a stay - at - home mother and writes in an office in her house . she writes in her spare time , usually in the morning , as in the afternoon she must pick up her children .