indonesian sastra-wangi
It’s called chick-lit here, and sastra-wangi in Indonesia. It’s written by women, and features female heroines. The book covers have “dreamy black and white photos of these writers.” If this sounds familiar, then so should this complaint:
“[The marketing] may help sell the books, but it does little to reveal their literary merits. And that’s a problem for 32-year-old first time novelist Nukila Amal, who’s resisting the “sastra wangi” tag. “That label is really negative,” she said. “Writers should be categorised in genre or style and spirit, not on their physical appearance.” For that reason Nukila decided against using her photo on her novel Cala Ibi (Hummingbird). ”
Read the BBC article here.