Laksmi's international musings frame the colour of Indonesian life

It's easy to think that writing literature is merely Laksmi Pamuntjak's latest quest in life. After all, she has transformed herself from being a classical pianist to a political columnist, food critic and founder of a chic English-language bookstore in Jakarta. Yet the Indonesian author, who writes in English, has created quite a literary buzz.

Laksmi's work sets her apart from many young Indonesian authors. The 35-year-old delves into a vast range of topics: food, music, politics and mythology, from culinary and cultural critique, to fine art and fiction.

The Diary of R.S. - Meditations on Arts, one of her latest offerings, is a collection of short stories inspired by her favourite paintings. 'Most of the stories are my very personal responses to paintings I've come to love,' says Laksmi. The painters are mainly European - among them Salvador Dali, Max Beckmann, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edvard Munch - but their paintings stirred Indonesian musings.

'Through the paintings, I saw Indonesia - or rather scenes of Indonesia,' she says.

Toulouse-Lautrec's Woman at Her Toilet: Mme Poupoule, which depicts a downtrodden woman looking in a mirror, led her to pen The Prostitute and the Dwarf, a story set in Jakarta with the male protagonist is modelled after the diminutive French painter. 'I asked myself the question: 'What does a woman have to go through to end up looking like that?'' she says. 'The canvas may be set in a very specific Paris, but it can equally speak about two marginalised people in the Jakarta of today.'

Ellipsis highlights her reflections on her travels to New York, Germany, Shanghai and beyond.