A novelist and organizer of art events who writes in both Indonesian and English. Eliza’s fiction and non-fiction works were published by various national and international media. Eliza’s novel, titled From Now on Everything will be Different (2005) was internationally published, and Eliza has often been invited as a speaker in various literary festivals and events. Eliza is also the founder and director of InterSastra, an independent initiative which serves as a platform to encourage creative exploration of marginalized themes and promote the works produced.
The InterSastra online journal continues to host mentoring programs for early-career writers and translators, publishing bilingual (English-Indonesian) literary series, among others, Diverse Indonesia: Next Generation (2015), Defiant Voices (2016, aiming to amplify the works of previously suppressed writers), and Unrepressed (2018-2020).
Furthermore, InterSastra manages the House of the Unsilenced, a multidisciplinary art project that brings together artists, writers, and survivors of sexual violence to work together and speak up toward gender justice. Another wing under InterSastra is Fashion for Words, which presents fashion collections that challenge beauty standards and the norm, while defending freedom of expression.
InterSastra’s sister organization, the As-Salam Collective, hosts a religious study group to relearn Islam with an equality and humanitarian perspective, and creates works of art based on their findings.