West Papua Province is an area on the island of Papua which includes several cities. The largest city in this province is Sorong City, the capital of West Papua.
West Papua is a division of Papua Province in 1999 through legislation. Initially, this province was to be established and received many rejections from the community until a Presidential Decree of 2003 was issued to ratify this area.
Like other regions in Papua, this province is famous for its extraordinary natural exoticism. The main attraction of this province is the Raja Ampat region which is renowned for its beautiful beaches.
Another interesting side to be revealed from this region, namely the tradition. The indigenous people of this region create many rules because the number of tribes inhabiting West Papua is more than 13 tribes.
These various tribes created a unique tradition and multiple forms. West Papua has also experienced cultural acculturation with other regions as a target area for the transmigration program. Therefore, a practice that is rarely disclosed, namely literature, emerged.
How is the development of literature in West Papua? Indeed, literature in West Papua is not as conspicuous as on the islands of Sumatra and Java. The original literature of this region is in the form of folklore or folklore that is spread orally—usually told by mothers to their children.
However, in modern literature, it turns out that two writers smell like West Papua and are pretty famous for having many impressive achievements. Of course, the pattern of literary works produced seeks to introduce the land of Papua nationally.
This writer was persistent enough to introduce Papua more profoundly and make his name proud in producing this literary work.
- Igir Al-Qatiri
This writer was born in Jayapura, Papua Province. However, he was taken to a mother who is a native of West Papua, more specifically the city of Sorong.
Igir Al-Qatiri has a relatively long full name, namely Irham Muchsin Al-Qatiri. He has mixed blood from his father, who has Arab, Chinese blood, and was born in Ternate. His father is a direct descendant of a Muslim religious leader, so he was born into a religious family.
As a writer, he has written 1,731 poems and has produced 34 literary books. All of his works have been published on an international scale as well.
Since childhood, Igir Al-Qatiri has been educated in his hometown, namely Jayapura. He travelled from SD, SMP, to SMK from the city. There is something unique about this writer. His educational background is not correlated with the world of literature. It is recorded that he studied Electrical Engineering at SMK 3 Jayapura.
When his father died, Igir Al-Qatiri had to support his family, which consisted of his mother and two younger siblings. To meet the needs of his family’s life, he decided to work as an electrical technician in his hometown when he was still in the 1st grade of SMK.
However, there is an interesting fact about the long-haired writer. It turns out that he has been interested in literature since elementary school by writing love letters. Finally, as an adult, he became interested in poetry when he read the works of the famous Lebanese writer, Kahlil Gibran.
One of his well-known contemplation books, entitled Tracing the Footsteps of the Legendary Black Brothers, was published in 2011. The work was controversial enough to receive a lot of attention from the literary world.
- Vonny Arongear
https://www.nokenlive.com/tag/vonny-aronggear/
There is a woman writer in West Papua named Vonny Arongear. She is a native Papuan born in Serui, Yapen Islands Regency. She is a writer who has never studied literature at all.
The woman currently a geography teacher at SMA 2 Jayapura is a graduate of S2 Geography Education at Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta. She was pretty accomplished during his master’s degree because she received the cum laude predicate in 2015. While her education at S1 in his hometown, namely Jayapura University.
The woman who became a pioneer in literary extracurriculars where she teaches has been fond of literature since college. At that time, she often read novels and other literary works.
As a writer born and raised in Jayapura, she published a book in West Papua entitled Punah in 2016. This has made her name also become a byword in the West Papua region.
Born far from the academic environment, this woman is quite productive in her work. It is noted that she has published seven literary books in the form of a collection of poems.
She wants his works to motivate her students to become writers. This is a positive spirit that she wants to transmit to the next generation in Papua so that the quantity and quality of her literary works continue to increase.
That is the condition of literature in West Papua. Indeed, the literary world is not as prominent as Sumatra and Java in that area. However, the existence of these two world-famous writers is proof that literature in West Papua has tremendous potential.