Indonesian author Amir Hamzah (1911–1946) wrote 50 poems, 18 pieces of lyrical prose, 12 articles, 4 short stories, 3 poetry collections, and 1 book.
The majority of Amir's original poems are included in his collections Njanji Soenji (1937) and Boeah Rindoe (1941), both first published in the literary magazine Poedjangga Baroe.
[1] Born in Langkat to Malay nobility, Amir completed his education at schools run by the Dutch colonial government in several cities on Sumatra and Java.
[2] By 1928 he had enrolled in a Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (junior high school) in the colonial capital of Batavia (now Jakarta); he wrote his first poems during this period.
[4] One of these works, a lyrical prose piece entitled "Poedjangga Baroe" ("New Writer"), was meant to promote the magazine of the same name that Amir established in collaboration with Armijn Pane and Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana.