Lucas Stewart's Blog, page 12
July 22, 2019
Sadaik Shorts: The Other Side of the Wall
Translated in 1996 but not published until 2013, possibly the only novel of Ma Ju’s available in English. The Other Side of the Wall follows Nhaung Khin Zaw, a young woman who predicts her death will come on her 24th birthday and her slide into depression as the date nears. She strikes a friendship with Doctor Cie, a psychiatrist, who questions Nhaung’s premonition and attempts to convince her of the life she still has to live. Sheila Nath Desmond’s translation skilfully tackles a complica...
July 19, 2019
Exploring Burma’s Bookshops: OS
Named after its owner, Ohn Saw, OS was a pallet stall on Pansodan Street for 30 years, until opening at its present location at the turn of the transition in 2012. Despite the sheer amount of books in the shop, the majority of the 100,000 stock is kept in various places, including in bundle sacks in alleyways, and the 1st floor of empty buildings on Pansodan Street.
[image error]
The small frame to the right of the entrance displaying English language books on Myanmar is just a portion of what is inside....
July 18, 2019
# 3 – Arakan Literature and Culture Association
The Rakhine are among the oldest of civilisations in South East Asia, building a literate, urbanised empire on modern-day Myanmar’s western border with Bangladesh. Stone inscriptions in the Rakhine script go back to the beginning of the previous millennium, and the ALCA honour this legacy with literary and history talks at the annual commemorations for the fall of the ancient Arakan kingdom to the Burmese in the 18th Century. Among one of the oldest of the ethnic culture and literature asso...
July 17, 2019
Wawn Awng -Administrator to Poet
Wawn Awng (1942) is a celebrated ethnic Kachin writer. Born in Sumprabum, the cultural heartland of the Jinghpaw community in the upper North of Myanmar, he graduated from Mandalay University with a BA in history and worked as a general administrator in Myitkyina district for most of his life. He is the author of 6 books in the Jinghpaw language, including cultural lore books, Kachin folktales and legends, and ‘N Law Nli’ a collection of poetry. Several of his poems have been translated in...
July 16, 2019
Tourist Burma Building
Complete a circuit of Sule Pagoda in the heart of Yangon and it’s impossible to miss the three buildings that dominate the roundabout: the Sunni Jamae Mosque, City Hall and the Tourist Burma Building. The last of the three, on Sule Pagoda’s south side and taking up an entire city block, is emblematic of the twisting histories of the city’s grand colonial era buildings: from riches to rags to restoration.
Built in 1905 by a wealthy Indian merchant, the building was originally named Fytche Squ...
July 15, 2019
Sadaik Shorts: The Bagan Wayfarer
Paragu, the penname of Hla Kyaing, regularly appears on the list of prominent 20th century Burmese writers. With over 100 published novels, ‘The Bagan Wayfarer’ is an unusual stray into travel literature for him and is exceptionally well done. Foregoing the typical ‘guidebook’ commentary that is evident in other travel narratives from the country, here the author combines a deep knowledge of the Bagan era with an actual descriptive journey that threads the history of the temples together. ...
July 10, 2019
Myay Hmone Lwin – Publishing to Poetry
Myay Hmone Lwin is an award winning writer and publisher. The author of 4 novels and a poetry collection, he is the founder and CEO of NDSP (Ngar Doe Sar Pay – Our Literature), a leading publisher in Myanmar known for its English to Burmese translations of Western writers on Myanmar and for publishing works by previously censored and banned Myanmar writers. For these efforts, Myay Hmone Lwin was shortlisted for the prestigious 2014 International Publishers Association Freedom to Publish Awa...
July 9, 2019
Are Burmese Booksellers in Trouble?
Frontier magazine ran an interesting article on the fate of booksellers at Yangon’s Book Street and book-selling in general the other month.
Book Street began in January 2017 with the support of author and Minister of Information U Pe Myint, to provide an accessible and open air market for readers at the east end of the Secretariat. It runs until the opening of the monsoon, with sellers charged fees for their stalls. Despite the initial enthusiasm for the initiative, like a lot of concepts...
July 8, 2019
Sadaik Shorts: The Sixth Enemy and Other Stories
A superb collection of 20 short stories that roam across lower Myanmar, from the capital to the coast to unnamed villages. Ever-present in all of them are the women: the wife, the aunt, the daughter and how their clans rely on them. This is a collection undoubtedly of Myanmar, a voice that deserves to be joined by others in the future.
[image error]Title: The Sixth Enemy and Other Stories
Author: Ma Sandar
Translator: Mra Hninzi
Published: Today Publishing House
Published: 2015
(Sadaik Shorts is a...
July 5, 2019
Exploring Burma’s Bookshops: Yar Pyae
The last bookshop to be found on Pansodan Street, just before the bridge rises to cross the train tracks and to the left of its more famous competitor Innwa Books, is Yar Pyae.
[image error]
Founded and owned by Daw Khin Swe Win, Yar Pyae opened on January 1st 1999 and is still going strong boasting nearly 100,000 books in stock and averaging 150 customers a day. Over 100 new books are acquired every month, all of them new. A small English language section can be found towards the left of the shop near...
