One of the pens behind the press
Nur Hafsah
History · Nusantara and the sea routes · Ports, monsoons and the people between
Hafsah writes the history of the archipelago as a history of water. Her chapters follow trade winds, harbour towns, borrowed words and the families who settled at the point where two cultures had to agree on a price. She is drawn to the go betweens, the pilots and translators and clerks whose names survive only in a ledger. She will tell you the monsoon is a character in the story, and she means it.
3 books in print · 10 journal pieces
Books by Nur Hafsah
Nur Hafsah in the journal
- Where the word monsoon comes from, and what Hormuz knew about it
- The Ship That Never Calls
- The day the taps ran dry, I finally understood Hormuz
- The man who knew the harbour better than any map
- How did a port town agree on a price when the two sides shared no language?
- The year did not begin in January, it began when the wind changed
- Why I write about the pilot and not the king
- Five things in your kitchen that arrived by ship
- The clerk who priced the monsoon
- The words that came in on the wind