paper moon

Tell us about yourself and your family.

My name is Maria Tri Sulistyani, but people call me Ria. I’m the founder and co-artistic director of Papermoon Puppet Theatre in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. My husband, Iwan Effendi, is co-artistic director, and we have a six-year-old son, Lunang.

Describe Papermoon Puppet Theatre.

Papermoon was founded in 2006 but was initially an art studio for children. At the time, I had just graduated with my degree in social politics but didn’t want to work in an office. I had lots of children’s books because I worked as a children’s book writer and illustrator for a while, so a friend and I rented a tiny boarding room and invited children to come over and do some craft activities and reading for free. Then, about a month later, there was a big earthquake here. Around a thousand people died, and many houses were flattened. We wanted to help, so we took our