Goenawan Mohamad (b. 1941) is an acclaimed Indonesian writer and man of letters. He has been at the forefront of Indonesian intellectual and cultural life since his early twenties, and a crusader for press freedom since his university days. He was founder of the Indonesian language weekly journal Tempo in 1971 and its chief editor from 1971-94, when the magazine was shut down by the Suharto regime. From 1994-98 he was involved with activist activities against the regime, and then stepped back as chief editor of Tempo for one year when the magazine resumed publication in 1998.

Since that time, Goenawan has been more involved with establishing alternative spaces for cultural and intellectual activity in Jakarta (Utan Kayu center and the Salihara complex) writing (essays, poetry, plays and librettos) and as theatre director and producer. He is frequently invited nationally and internationally as guest speaker and commentator, and has received numerous prestigious awards. He was Nieman Fellow at Harvard University (1989), Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan USA (2002) and in 2001 was honoured as the Regent Professor of the University of California.