Exploring Burma’s Bookshops: Seikku Cho Cho
Seikku Cho Chos owner, San Oo is a known poet and artist, but his real passion lies in his publishing house. Originally operating from a two-storey brick house on 164th street, the printing press was housed in the garage and a small shop selling their titles at the front of the main house.
With over 100 books printed a year, the house is one of the largest, non-government affiliated publishers in the country and certainly the most admired. Known for their literary fiction, especially their annual anthology of the best short stories published that year (the Burmese equivalent to the Best of British Short Stories) and their yearly anniversary book fair, Seikku Cho Cho has guided and promoted the careers of some of the leading writers in Myanmar today.
In 2016, a worker on the printing press flicked a cigarette into a can of oil and ignited a fire which raged through house, destroying the press and burning much of the publishers inventory and plates. Many feared it would be the end of Seikku Cho Cho, but San Oo raised the publisher from its ashes, relocated to a second house not far away and it still remains one of the leading publishers in the country.
The new location can be difficult to find; a quick tip look for a purple generator, the publisher is to its left. A more conveniently located shop is on 40th street, upper block in Kyauktada township downtown, but visitors to the main office do a get a 10% discount for their troubles and access to all of SCC titles.
Open: Daily from 9 am to 5.30 pm.
Address: No. 7/8, Myanmar Sri linka Yar Ma Kyaung Street, Nat Chaung block, Tamwe township.
Tel: 01 543672