About The Author
Andrea Hirata's Background
Just to inform to all of you that Laskar Pelangi was Best Seller Book 2008. This book was written by a young boy from Indonesia named Andrea Hirata. This is one of few Indonesian book that can make me cry, laugh, and inspired at the same time.
Initially, Andrea Hirata decided to write about the earliest fragments on his life. This book shows the power of friendship and the magic of amazing childhood. The simple stories of 10 little poor kids studying together in a run down Muslim school. The school has one principle, two teachers and 10 students.
Andrea Hirata called "ikal" was born in Gantung Village, Belitong Island on October 24. Living with a lack almost everything is traumatic, especially for children. It’s a real struggle to growing up in the poor neighborhood (in Belitong), while next to their place was a giant state mining company that had all the luxurious in the world.
He studied at Muhammadiyah Elementary School and Muhammadiyah Junior High School. He had nine friends from unfortunate family like him. They studied in one school for about nine years and taught by Bu Muslimah. The name of Laskar Pelangi was given by Bu Muslimah, because they like to see rainbow.
He spent his childhood with Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow warrior). Laskar Pelangi team is Ikal, Lintang, Sahara, Mahar, A Kiong, Syahdan, Kucai, Borek, Syahdan, Trapani, and Harun. But one day, in Junior High School, that is newcomer who’s name Flo. Flo’s father worked in Mining Company.
He learned then about sincerity, friendship, and many virtues that perhaps today, children can’t learn from their environment the way he did.
The Brilliant Young Man
After he finished his graduate in Senior High School, he moved to Jakarta and continued his school in University of Indonesia. He received a scholarship from the European Union, which allow him to take his master’s degree in at the Universite de Paris, Sorbonne, and at Sheffield Hallam University in UK.
An economics major, he published a thesis on the economy and telecommunications, which has since been translated into Indonesian and is used as a study guide at various educational institutions.
Now he stays in Bandung, West Java and works at the state telecommunications company besides his part time as a writer and back-packer too. His dream is to live in the highest village in the world, Gompa in the Himalayas.
How old, exactly? Andrea Hirata is very careful about giving out information about himself. Readers and the media have tried to guess his age by way of his looks. Laskar Pelangi is his first book of Andrea Hirata’s tetra logy-Laskar Pelangi(Rainbow Warrior), Sang Pemimpi (The Dreamer), Edensor, and Maryamah Karpov.
Andrea Hirata is a brilliant young man from Indonesia and he instantly becomes the widely author in Indonesia, from teenager to intellectual professional