Suwarsih Djojopuspito, in pre-1940 spelling Soewarsih Djojopoespito, was an Indonesian author, regarded as one of the most important Indonesian feminist writers, publishing from the 1940s to the 1970s. Among her most well-known works are the semi-autobiographical novel Buiten het gareel (1940) and the short story collection Empat Serangkai (1954). She was among the vanguard of early feminist authors in Indonesia that preceded the New Order, and was one of the first female writers to be published by the state publishing house Balai Pustaka.
Soewarni Pringgodigdo and Soewarsih Djojopoespito circa 1925
Sariamin Ismail was the first female Indonesian novelist to be published in the Dutch East Indies. A teacher by trade, by the 1930s she had begun writing in newspapers; she published her first novel, Kalau Tak Untung, in 1933. She published two novels and several poetry anthologies afterwards, while continuing to teach and – between 1947 and 1949 – serving as a member of the regional representative body in Riau. Her literary works often dealt with star-crossed lovers and the role of fate, while her editorials were staunchly anti-polygamy. She was one of only a handful of Indonesian women authors to be published at all during the colonial period, alongside Fatimah Hasan Delais, Saadah Alim, Soewarsih Djojopoespito and a few others.
Ismail in the 1990s