(fiction writer, Burma/Myanmar; born 1949, Rakhine State, Myanmar) has published over twenty-five books of fiction, non-fiction, and translated works, including, among many others, Those Who Sell "Things" for Human Use and other stories, winner of the 1995 National Literary Award. Some of his other original and translated works include On Death and other short stories (1993), Normal Mind and Normal Behaviour (a collection of articles on Applied Psychology, 1993), Ward Number Six (translation 1977, original by Anton Chekhov) and First Love (translation 1988, original by Ivan Turgenev). Mr. U was educated in medicine at the Institute of Medicine in Yangon, and in journalism at the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation in Bangkok. He worked as a medical practitioner for 11 years, and now serves as editor for two publishing houses, Sarpaylawka Bookhouse and Myanmar Book Publishing House. His participation in the IWP is supported by the IWP. His name is pronounced /oo/ /pay/ /myent/.
. MBBS (b. 1953, Taunggyi) is public relations officer and content specialist of the Behavioral Change Communications Department for Population Services International in her country, and is an ophthalmologist by training. An author since 1979, Dr. Nyo has written more than a hundred short stories, articles, and poems, and published 25 novels. She has successfully broached highly sensitive subjects such as AIDS, using her novels as vehicles for incremental change in public awareness. The US Department of State is supporting her residency.
(b.1939, Kansint) (U Win Pe) won the National Literary Prize in 1964 for his collection of poetry, Poems of Red and Blue (1964). A well-known scholar and writer, his poems, short stories, book reviews, and articles on Mayanma (Burmese) literature and art have appeared in various journals, magazines, and newspapers since 1958, often under the pen name Maung Swan Yi. He has lectured on literature, at schools, town halls, churches, and monasteries, since 1962 and has also devoted himself to the preserving of Burmese culture, conducting extensive field research on Burmese folklore and folk music. He is participating through private sponsorship.
works in Burmese as well as in English. His translations include literary criticism and philosophy, and the Burmese poetry collections Through Life’s Perils (1983) and Sweet Odour of Padauk and Dokchampa (2002). In 1998, two of his poems were anthologized by the National Library of Poetry in Maryland. In 1999, Mr. Moe published his first book of poetry in English, Harmony of Head and Heart, and is currently working on a second volume. He teaches English language, Buddhist Philosophy, and Ethics to monks at the State Priyatti Sasana University, Yangon. He participates courtesy of the Open Society Institute.
is one of Myanmar’s most active literary voices. She has published one novel (‘Wild Snowy Night,’ 1995), a volume of essays (‘Learning from My Son,’ 2001), and a collection of short stories with three other women writers (‘The Pink Before Dark,’ 1996). Her work has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, was adapted into radio plays, and a story (‘Not Novel’) was made into a short film in Japan. Currently, she works as a freelance journalist in Yangon.
is an active contributor to the Myanmar literary scene whose interests span a variety of cultural, economic, and political issues. His published translations include Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat and Joseph E. Stiglitz’s Making Globalization Work. In the 1980s and 90s, Kyaw Win founded and ran a private school in Monywa. After three periods of imprisonment, he moved to Yangon and became a freelance writer and editor. He has edited five magazines, most recently Khit San [‘Watershed Era’] in 2003 and [‘The Waves’] Magazine, where he is currently Chief Editor. His participation is independently funded.
is the editor of Junior Magazine, and an active social volunteer. He has published over 300 poems, 50 short stories, and numerous essays. His forthcoming publications include two collections of poems [‘Reverse Poetry’] and [‘Satan’s Laugh to the Happy World’], and three children’s poetry books. He also translates current American writing. His participation is independently funded.
has taught chemistry at Rangoon University for 26 years. A former editor of Customs Journal, he has published eleven books of fiction, and five volumes of translation from the English. He is also a painter and composer, and hosts a weekly program for Mandalay FM radio as well as the TV show “Sunday Talk.”
Cho Tu ZAW (novelist, filmmaker, poet, essayist, activist; Myanmar)after years of political organizing, has more than twenty screenwriting and directing credits, including [Another Lonely World] (2010), [The Lost] (2011) and, most recently, [Let's Make A Dialogue on Love] (2011). He is the author of the novels, [Some Used to Hate] (2006] and [Once Upon a Time in Ganges] (2010); his poems and articles have been featured in a number of magazines.
Pandora (poet; Burma/Myanmar) is the editor of the forthcoming [Tuning: An Anthology of Myanmar Women Poets], due out this August. Her poems have been anthologized in Bones Will Crow: 15 Contemporary Burmese Poets (2012), and translations of her work have been published in international literary journals and magazines, including Asymptote, Poetry Review, and Sampsonia Way. She currently works for the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
Nay Phone LATT (poet, fiction writer; Burma) is the author of the City I dropped down a collection of stories written during his four-year imprisonment. A blogger and activist, he has received the Reporters Without Borders’ Cyber-dissident Award and the PEN American Freedom to Write Award; in 2010, he was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. He edits the online magazine (Thanlwinainmat), www.thanlwin.com, and is the executive director of the NGO, Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO), www.myanmarido.org. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. His blog in English is en.nayphonelatt.com.
ko ko thett (poet, translator; Myanmar) has won a PEN Translation Award for Bones Will Crow: 15 Contemporary Burmese Poets (2012), co-edited with James Byrne. His The Burden of Being Burmese (2015) explores the untenable notion of ‘‘Burmese.’’ After working in South East Asia and Europe, ko ko thett returned to his native Yangon. He writes in both Burmese and English. His participation is made possible by the Open Society Foundation.
Maung DAY (poet, artist, translator; Myanmar) has published six poetry books in Burmese and one in English. His poetry has appeared in International Poetry Review, Guernica, The Wolf, The Awl and elsewhere. He translates widely between English and Burmese; his visual work and poetry are exhibited and curated internationally. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
THAWDA AYE LEI (fiction, nonfiction; Myanmar), a graduate of the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, is a journalist-turned-advocate. She is also the author of three novels and a story collection [The Borderless Cloud], and the founder of the online magazine Myat shu. Thawda Aye Lei's participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
MAE YWAY မယ်ယွေး (poet, scriptwriter, publisher; Myanmar) has been publishing her writing in periodicals and collections since 2010. The first volume of her poetry, [Courier], appeared in 2013; [You & I] appeared in 2016. In 2017, she founded the poetry publishing house 90/91, even while working as a digital content strategist and TV writer. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
IWP '05 alumna Ma Thida is a Burmese surgeon, writer, poet, human rights activist and former prisoner of conscience. Among her nine books are The Sunflower (1999), The Roadmap (2011) and the memoir Sanchaung, Insein, Harvard (2012). Recently elected as Chair of The Writers in Prison committee of PEN International, she is the founder and past president of PEN Myanmar and past board member of PEN International; in 2016 she was the first recipient of the Václav Havel Foundation’s “Disturbing the Peace” award. At present (2021), she is a visiting research associate at Yale’s Southeast Asia Studies program.
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