Lucas Stewart's Blog, page 19
April 1, 2018
Khin Pann Hnin
Khin Pann Hnin (d. 2017) was a writer, doctor and journalist born in the delta town of Myaung Mya, Irrawaddy Division.
Though her writing career started while she was a young woman with poems published in university journals, she embarked on a different path (as so many writers in Myanmar do), as a doctor. She continued to write and publish two short story collections, ‘The Walkers’ and ‘Age Poem and Other Stories’, as well as two novels ‘The Far End of the Clouds’ and ‘Dreams of a Heartbeat...
March 31, 2018
New Fellowship for Writing on Art in Myanmar/S.E.Asia
South East of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia have put out the call for applications for writers researching and writing on art in Asia.
The fellowship is for emerging writers (less than 3 years publishing experience) and who are citizens or permanent residents of any country in South East Asia.
The fellowship will offer a grant of up to 1000 USD to spent on a research topic with a publication of an essay in print and online. The deadline is on 15th April 2018.
For mor...
March 28, 2018
Emerging Ethnic Literature Festivals in Myanmar
The 1947 Panglong Conference in Shan State is often viewed, simplistically, as the catalyst for the subsequent decades of civil strife and rebellion in Myanmar. Promises of equality were made to the ethnic nationality groups, promises which were then broken by successive democratic and military administrations after the assassination of the architect of the conference, Bogyoke Aung San. What is often forgotten is the gathering that occurred before the Panglong Conference. The organisers, b...
March 25, 2018
Review: Hidden Words Anthology
Many thanks to T F Rhoden and the Asia Review of Books for a very kind review of the Hidden Words, Hidden Worlds anthology.
the collection neither distorts nor downplays the very real points of political, ethnic, and cultural tensions between the dominate Burman and the minority peoples of the hinterlands. These stories highlight the personhood and agency of the everyday individual—which may have otherwise been lost to some larger narrative if told from a central Burman perspective. Fascinati...
March 24, 2018
Tun Foundation Literary Awards
The annual Tun Foundation awards are one of Myanmar’s more important, independent literary prizes. Created out of a private fund from the founders of the Tun banking family, it recognises books and manuscripts written in Burmese and English in 12 categories including History, Biography, Culture and Environment plus a lifetime achievement award. This year, its 12th iteration, was held at the Myanmar Bank Association building in Yangon with cash prizes of 1000 GBP for each of the lifetime ach...
March 23, 2018
DA Prize for Short Fiction
Really pleased to say that I have been shortlisted for the Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction. Run by award-winning short story publishers Comma Press and the University of Central Lancashire, the DA prize is in its first year and remembers writer (and Comma Press director) Dinesh Allirajah who passed away in 2014. The winner and two runner ups will be announced on the 8th May. For more on the prize and shortlisted writers have a look at Comma Press’ website.
March 6, 2018
June Nilian Sang
June Nilian Sang (1988) is an ethnic Chin writer and editor, born in Thantlang, Northern Chin State. Graduating with a BA in English from Kalaymyo University, he moved to India after the 2007 Saffron Revolution returning to Myanmar in 2012. He has held several positions at Lai Hakha language journals, including online editor of the Chinland Post, Chief Editor of the Chin Times and Executive Editor of the Chin Digest. He speaks five languages, Lai Hakha, Lai Falam, Mizo, English and Burmese...
February 25, 2018
Ah Phyu Yaung (shwe)
Ah Phyu Yaung (shwe) aka White Gold (b.1973) is a short story writer and businesswoman.
Her first published story appeared in the widely respected Shwe Amyutae Magazine under her pseudonym ‘Ah Phyu Yaung’. Later, she was bestowed the suffix (shwe) to her pen name as a mark of respect from the editorial board of Shwe Amyutae.
During her writing career she has published 44 short stories along with articles and essays in popular journals such as Mahaythi, Kalyar, Mahaw Thadar, Pann Alinka, Yana...
February 23, 2018
PEN/Barbery Award for Jailed Journalists
Reuter journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, currently awaiting trial in Myanmar charged under the 1923 Official Secrets have been awarded one of the USA’s most prestigious freedom awards
Only two years old, the annual PEN/Barbey Award is given to honour a writer imprisoned for their work (a slight change in remit from the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith award which honoured ‘writers fighting for the right to free expression’ and discontinued in 2015).
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are the fifth and sixth rec...
February 22, 2018
Monsoon Diary – Poetry By Joe Woods
Award winning poet and former Yangon resident, Joe Woods’ newest collection will be released by Dedalus Press in April 2018.
According to the brief by Daedalus:
‘Monsoon Diary strikes an often elegiac tone, betraying a growing awareness of mortality and the many losses that come with age. But it also bears witness to a country transitioning from dictatorship to democracy, finds the seeds of a new half-crown of sonnets in a line of Catullus, and, in Driving to Delvin, a poem of 84 couplets, br...
