in 2011, television network sctv announced a 15-episode serial adaption of "laskar pelangi"; hirata had previously said he would not allow such an adaptation, but later relented as he felt the network could guarantee quality. by 2012 the english translation of "laskar pelangi" had been picked up by fsg, penguin books, and random house for sale in twenty countries; hirata was the first indonesian writer to be published with fsg. that year he was a speaker at the byron bay writers festival.