After passing one of the tightest exams in Indonesia, Joint Entrance Test for State Universities (SBMPTN), Nurwina Sari was accepted to the Faculty of Forestry (Fahutan) in 2019. Wina (her nickname) is now known as a young writer whose work is favored by the younger generations. Because of her tenacity and creativity, her novel entitled Dia Angkasa which was originally published on Wattpad, has been adapted into a feature film.
Wina grew up in a humble family full of love. Her father worked as a village staff and her mother was a seamstress. They always gave their full support to each of Wina’s dreams. It was this unrelenting support that gave a strong foundation for Wina in pursuing ambitious dreams.
When Wina was little, she showed interested in fiction. “I like watching movies and writing it reviews,” she recalled, on Wednesday (12/06). This habit gradually progressed into a hobby of reading novels. Her interest in literacy deepened after she started reading the novel Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Wijck. From there, she became interested in collecting and writing short stories.
In Junior High School, Wina started to write short stories. She still remembered her first short stories where was three pages long and was also praised by her classmate. This praise became a fire of encouragement that kept her writing. “From there I started writing more stories,” she said.
This woman born in Barru Regency, began to familirse herself with Wattpad when she was in high school. At the time, she was invited by a friend to write on the platform. There, she found the perfect medium to express her creativity and reach a wider audience.
Despite her strong passion for writing, Wina chose forestry as her major when she graduated from high school. “I really wanted to enter the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) College, but I didn’t pass the test. In the end, I chose forestry because I thought I would also learn things related to what BMKG studies,” she explains. However, she did not regret this. In this major, Wina discovered many new things that inspired her works.
It was when she entered college that became the starting point of Wina’s journey of writing Dia Angkasa. A story inspired by her day to day experiences and observations. The realisation of the transience of life and the desire to capture precious moments became the main reasons why she wrote this story. “I know that humans are forgetful, and that togetherness will end. So I chose to write to tell stories that cannot be repeated,” she said.
This novel tells about Aurora, a girl who lives with her father, a policeman. Her father was known to be kind and caring towards the boys of motorcycle gangs in his area, including the gang leader named Angkasa. Through this story, Wina slips in the message that meetings and separations are an inseparable part of life.
Kana (Wina’s nickname among her readers) not only writes based on imagination, but also incorporates personal experiences in her work, ranging from characters inspired by her juniors during high school, romance stories of her friends, to emotional experiences when she had to lose her father.
Originally published on Wattpad, Dia Angkasa gained so much attention and popularity that it formed its own community of readers through @diaangkasa.fnbse. “My readers even formed a community called Dia Angkasa Garis Keras,” she said.
With more and more readers, finally a production house called Unlimited Production was interested in adapting her novel into a movie. Wina revealed that she felt very happy because her dream to see her work brought to the big screen would soon be realised.
In the process of this film adaptation, Wina was directly involved in the selection of actors and script writing. She also provided actor recommendations and discussed with the production team, ensuring that the vision and message of her novel was well conveyed in the movie. The movie, starring Yesaya Abraham and Shenina Cinnamon, was aired in July 2024 on the streaming service Maxstream.
Throughout her writing journey, Wina as an alumnus of SMA Negeri 1 Barru has published 6 novels. She is currently working on a new novel project entitled “3726 mdpl”. This novel will tell a deeper story about the forestry major, introducing and exploring the specialty of the discipline that has been his field of study.
“I want to introduce my major in a special way through this new novel,” said Wina.
Read the original text in Bahasa Indonesia.
Original Writer: Mario Farrasda
Translated by: Nabila Rifqah Awaluddin and Muhammad Alif M.
