Archives: Authors

Ahmad Rizaq lives in the skyscraper-fenced compact community of Jakarta. His wordsmith journey started as a digital storyteller with a focus on crafting marketing pitches, and he has bent all multimedia elements, from blogging and social media to e-commerce and visual copywriting. His childhood dream was to become a fiction writer, and on one reflective night, he rediscovered that dream. He is now making his debut with “Little Lovely Lily.”
Connect with him on Instagram: @ahmadwrizaq

Andrea Dee is born and raised in Manila, Philippines. She graduated with a degree in Communication Arts and a minor in Creative Writing from De La Salle University. She writes a lot about little queer experiences and is notorious for not replying to texts. (Sorry.) She’s probably watching movies, rereading a book, or stuck in an endless void (social media).

Gwen Lee is a Singapore-born, US-based author of eight children’s books. Her award-winning work Little Cloud Wants Snow! was a recommended selection at the Read! Singapore Festival and is used by schools in the United States to educate children about weather science. Her other publications such as There Was a Peranakan Woman Who Lived in a Shoe; Elizabeth Meets the Queen: A War Heroine’s Journey; and the Greco and Beco series have been featured by institutions such as the National Library Board, Building and Construction Authority, and Singapore Global Network in their outreach campaigns. Gwen is a graduate of University College London and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family and pet chickens.

Melly Sutjitro is a Chinese Indonesian author who lives in Jakarta with her husband and two teenage kids. She spent a few years living in San Francisco while completing her Master degree. After spending a decade in corporate offices, she decides to pursue her love of storytelling through writing. She has nine Picture Books and three romance novels published under the pen name mellyberry. When she’s not stressing over the plot in her manuscripts, she enjoys reading all sort of books (as long as they’re not horror) and documenting her thoughts on her Instagram page. Occasionally, she would spend her time cooking, doing Pilates, and watching the re-runs of Friends and The Big Bang Theory.

Jerome Mangadap is a seasoned executive and leadership coach with over 11 years of experience in leadership, politics, communication, and mindset coaching. Known to his clients as “Coach Jerry”, he has cultivated a reputation as a deep thinker and thought leader, imparting valuable wisdom to thousands of followers on LinkedIn. His pragmatic expertise has provided tremendous value to private international clients.
For over a decade, Jerome has empowered leaders, guiding them towards self-discovery, accelerated growth, and advancement. His coaching style, characterized by substance, authenticity, and a highly personalized approach, has led to positive transformations for individuals and organizations across diverse industries and backgrounds.
Jerome’s extensive experience includes working on-board the prestigious RMS Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liners that gave him rich global insights. A lifelong learner and ordained minister, Jerome actively pursues knowledge in fields such as metacognition, communication, geopolitics, innovation, and theology. He showcases his diverse talents as an SDG Catalyst, Geopolitical Observer, Bold Visionary and Strategist, Bigideationeer, polymath, and pragmatic thinker, all in service of making the world a better place.
Committed to helping humanity succeed, Jerome’s multifaceted expertise and unwavering dedication ensure a positive impact on everyone he meets.

Melly Sutjitro is a Chinese Indonesian author who lives in Jakarta with her husband and two teenage kids. She spent a few years living in San Francisco while completing her Master degree. After spending a decade in corporate offices, she decides to pursue her love of storytelling through writing. She has nine Picture Books and three romance novels published under the pen name mellyberry. When she’s not stressing over the plot in her manuscripts, she enjoys reading all sort of books (as long as they’re not horror) and documenting her thoughts on her Instagram page. Occasionally, she would spend her time cooking, doing Pilates, and watching the re-runs of Friends and The Big Bang Theory.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924). He was a Czech-German writer born in Prague on July 3, 1883, to a middleclass Jewish family. His childhood was marked by illness including tuberculosis which troubled him throughout his life. After completing his studies in 1906, Kafka began working for an insurance company, a job that he did not want to do but only did to earn enough money. These experiences would go onto influence his writings later in his life, particularly visible in the novels, The Trial, and The Castle. It wasn’t until 1912 when he published The Metamorphosis that he gained significant recognition as a writer. He gained immediate success and was slowly being recognized as one of the most innovative writers of his time.

Joseph Conrad (1857- 1924). He was a Polish-British writer who is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in the English language. He was born on December 3, 1857, in Berdychiv, Ukraine. Conrad eventually joined the British Merchant Navy and became a naturalized British citizen in 1886. Conrad’s experiences at sea had a profound influence on his writing and he would later draw upon his adventures and observations in his novels and stories. In 1895, Conrad published his first novel, Almayer’s Folly. Conrad’s writing was marked by its complex characters, psychological depth and vivid depictions of the sea and the exotic locales he had visited.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844-1900). A German philosopher, essayist and critic, his writings have had a deep impact on Western philosophy and intellectual history. He was born on October 15, 1844, in the Prussian province of Saxony. Nietzsche is famous for his critiques of religion, morality, and traditional western values, which he saw as limiting the full expression of human potential. He is popularly known for, The Gay Science, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morality and in the last year of his productive life, Twilight of the Idols, and The Wagner Case.

LEO TOLSTOY (1828-1910), a Russian novelist, considered one of the best writers of all times, was born on August 28, 1828, in Russa’s Tula Province. His mother died when he was two years old, and his father died when he was nine years old, so he was mostly brought up by distant relatives. Despite his childhood being marked by the early deaths of his mother and siblings, he received a good education and was exposed to a wide range of ideas and cultural influences. His first piece of writing that became famous was Childhood which was published in 1852. Some of his most famous works, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina. These works established Tolstoy as one of the profound writers of his time and cemented his reputation as a master of realism and a writer with great moral values.