Kayah Short Story Workshop
The penultimate Hidden Words, Hidden Worlds workshop took place in Kayah State at the beginning of June. Once a black zone where foreigners were forbidden to travel beyond the capital, Loikaw, Kayah State is home to three main ethnic groups, the Kayah, Kayan and Kayaw. It is these three groups that the workshop targeted, with 6 participants from each represented …
Yu Ya, daughter of famed novelist, literary prisoner and PEN Award winner Min Lu, engaged the participants with 5 days of short story construction techniques. She was joined by ethnic Kayah oral storyteller Plu Reh, who explained the history and meaning behind Kayah cultural rites and practices.
As usual a Live Literature night was held with readings in Burmese, Kayah, Kayaw and Kayan languages. Tradationla dances from each of the three groups plus a special appearance from the ethnic Kayan Lahwe. Over a 140 people attended from the local community including NLD and AND political parties, doctors, professors from Loikaw University, cultural group members, orphanages, local CSOs and INGOs.
No images of the workshop and Live Literature night i’m afraid as the internet here gets angry with me when i try to upload.