Duwa Walu Sin Wa (b.1948) comes from a long line of Kachin ‘Jaiwa’s’ or storytellers. Born in Ninghpum Village, Sumprabum Township, the cultural heartland of the Jinghpaw community, his father, the head of his clan, sent Duwa Walu Sin Wa to live with his uncle when he was 10 years old. This uncle was the clan’s Jaiwa …
Continue reading “Writer Profile: Duwa Walu Sin Wa”Tag: Ethnic Myanmar Literature
Can Literature Save Myanmar’s Peace Process?
In late January 2019, the Tatmadaw took control of the remote Naga region headquarters of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K), an ethnic armed organisation that has yet to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. In March, 5 leaders of the NSCN-K were arrested by police in Khamti Township, Sagaing Division after attending a meeting at their liason office, a meeting organised by the Naga Culture Centre Committee to discuss peace in the Naga region …
continue readingSadaik Long Review: Kachin Culture and Tradition in Myanmar by Rev. N-Gan Tang Gun
One of the hopes of my book, The People Elsewhere, was to shine a light on the misconception that all languages and literature from the ethnic nationality groups in Myanmar had been suppressed by successive juntas over fifty years. The reality is much more complicated of course …
continue readingWhat is the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs?
The Ministry of Ethnic Affairs is a new branch of the Union government, created by the NLD in attempt to bridge the decades of mistrust between the Bamar and the ethnic nationality groups but it has been left rather toothless …
continue reaDIngHidden Words Hidden Worlds: Contemporary Short Stories from Myanmar
After 5 long years, Hidden Words, Hidden Worlds: Contemporary Short Stories from Myanmar is finally ready! Edited by myself and Alfred Birnbaum and published by the British Council, the anthology will be launched in the UK on November 8th 2017 …
continue readingLiterature Associations of Myanmar
*this post was updated in October 2017
Not so long ago, under the previous military regimes, all self-governing literary and media organisations were banned with the sole exception of the Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association placed under the control of the Ministry of Information.
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