Saturday, May 31, 2014

My article and dialog/monolog With or Without Womb, in Asian Fortune Magazine --

My article With or Without Womb (there is also a script in the form of a monolog or dialog)--published in Asian Fortune Magazine--

http://www.asianfortunenews.com/site/article_0507.php?article_id=21
with poet ko ko thett, I read the monolog/dialog on stage in Helsinki in 2008.

Thank you again and again, "Hla Ohn Mae"--for telling me your story.

The script is in the form of a reporter (male or female) asking the woman questions, and she answering. 

It is one of two monologs I have written.  The other one is autobiographical and is based on memories spurred by my old clothes that no longer fit, as Jefferson said of old outdated institutions.  This one was filmed by Franny Soans in the 90s, and I did two experimental readings at The Studio Theatre in Annenberg Center in Philadelphia.
Thank you Franny.

KMKaung
5-31-2014

Praise for my story The Lovers, my paintings and other creative products in Asian Fortune Magazine

Praise for my story The Lovers, my paintings and other creative work in Asian Fortune Magazine--http://www.asianfortunenews.com/site/article_0407.php?article_id=10

Asian Fortune - Asian Pacific American Community news in the Washington DC metropolitan area

Friday, May 30, 2014

How can you tell me things are better in Burma --by KMKaung

How can you tell me things are better in Burma?
How can you tell me this?
Don't you feel ahr har de towards
yourself and your conscience
and your family and
society.

How can you tell me things are better in Burma and the World?

KMKaung
5-30-2014

How can you tell me things are better in Burma? by KMKaung

How can you tell me things are better in Burma?
How can you tell me this?
Don't you feel ahr har de towards
yourself and your conscience
and your family and
society.

How can you tell me things are better in Burma and the World?

KMKaung
5-30-2014

My review The Original Wolf --of Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden now live on Amazon--

My review "The Original Wolf--"
of Genghis: Birth of an Empire--by Conn Iggulden

is now live on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Birth-Empire-Novel-Dynasty/product-reviews/038534421X/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

The original Wolf--

Conn Iggulden's Genghis:  The Birth of an Empire.

http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Birth-Empire-Novel-Dynasty/dp/038534421X#reader_038534421X

Just by chance I started reading this series from book #3, Bones of the Hills, at the end of which Genghis dies.

I bought it at the Borders near me which went out of business about 5 years ago.

Unlike the overblown fantastic over striving journalese or journalism--lese -- of Siege:  68 hours inside Taj Hotel Mumbai

Iggulden writes with a clean steely visceral as well as violent and visual sense of action, character and place, and manages to make us feel as if we are really Genghis father being attacked and betrayed on the Mongolian steppe.  (I just read about 70 pages! of the free sample on Amazon).

In book one, the beginning, he does not relate the usual beginning, from Secret History of the Mongols--that Genghis Khan was born from the union of a wolf with a fallow deer.

Iggulden stays away from the myth with the seamy grimy harsh and brutal reality--

but in the third person limited point of view (also favored by GRRM--Game of Thrones)

he has the ability to switch from one point of view to the next, even the language changes, with complete clarity and credibility, somewhat like Dickens or Tolstoy.  So why are some popular writing teachers still teaching you must not "switch heads"--Why not?  I still remember how a classmate almost screamed at me--"You just switched point of view here."

*

For me, I know the main facts of the Genghis story already, from reading about it, including the scholarly work by Mark Rossabi, over the last 17 years or so.

Yet Conn Iggulden still manages to draw me in with a wealth of textural detail, without slowing down the action.

Or rather the action isn't frenetic as it is in an action movie, but with a heightened consciousness of the characters, who are after all constantly in life or death situations on an hostile environment.

I think it's all superb, and deserves to be the bestsellers they are, Conn Iggulden's books.

I have not read his Rome series.

The only Rome novel I have read being Robert Graves' horrific I, Claudius.  (Again like GRR Martin's  world in Song of Ice and Fire series).

So, a lot to look forward to.

BTW, if you contemplate buying a novel, always listen to the audio edition too.  Genghis:  Birth of a Nation is read beautifully.

In the extensive free sample, through the action/story, Iggulden weaves in how disparate the tribes were, and Tartar and Mongol are not the same, and also there was no Mongol Nation before Genghis.  (Spelled "Chingiz" by Rossabi).

Iggulden does this by showing how Genghis and his elder brother Becktar suffered when they spent a year each being "broken in" with their mother's tribe when they were "waiting for their bethrothed to come into their monthly blood."

He also shows excellently how Genghis' own clan became the efficient conquering and killing military machine it became.

One was the way the arbans and the tumens were organized.  I am not going to explain here what they were, look it up yourself.

Another was that the Mongol tribes, unlike say the Egyptians or the Mormons or the Burmese monarchs, knew that incest could destroy your gene pool and weaken the tribe/s.

So they practiced raids or getting brides by abduction or negotiation, or by rape and capture during war.

I am not recommending it as a marital practice, I am just pointing it out.

Jon Krakauer in his book Under the Banner of Heaven describes how many Mormon women in modern times "gave birth to blobs of blood" because incest was so common, fathers and uncles "marrying" daughters and nieces in a chilling abusive "pattern."

So I don't think all these "racial purity" or blood lines theories are any good.

Anyway, read Iggulden, you can't go wrong and you will also learn a lot of how the Mongols conquered the world between the Western borders of present-day China up to Hungary and Vienna in Europe.

And how they became the Moghuls in India.

Fascinating.

(Whichever way you look at it, Burma is a failed system and not worth expending grey matter on.  The present author was born in Burma.)

KMKaung
5-30-2014






Tuesday, May 27, 2014

My Amazon Author Central profile

Kyi May Kaung is a Burmese-American writer based in the United States, noted for her searing depictions of life in third and fourth world countries and her renditions of strange points of view, such as the first person narrative of a stripper (The Lovers) or of a Lion who falls in love with a human princess (Beast).

She has written a novel, Wolf, short stories, novellas, monologues and a play and screenplay, Shaman, that was praised by Edward Albee.

She also writes poetry and has done dozens of readings in N. America, Europe and Southeast Asia. She has published two poetry chapbooks,Pelted with Petals:  The Burmese Poems, and Tibetan Tanka, and is in the process of publishing more.

She is a winner of the William Carlos Williams Award of the Academy of American Poets and has won a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Award for Shaman, when it was still a one paragraph outline for a play called Flashback.  It has since had a script-in-hand reading in Washington, DC.

Kyi was also a Pew finalist twice in Literature, for Shee-Monkey goes West, an allegory in poetry and prose, and for her two act play Shaman.

She worked for 13 years in the overseas Burmese democracy movement,as well as being a senior research analyst on air, in international broadcasting to Burma 1997-2001.  She then worked as a senior analyst for The Burma Fund, affiliated with the Burmese Democratic Government in Exile.

Ms. Kaung holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in Political Economy and City Planning, respectively.

Her formal education informs the depth of understanding evident in her writings.

5-27-2014




Monday, May 26, 2014

From Game of Thrones/Song of Fire & Ice--by GRR Martin --

More characters than you can wrap your head around!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_Thrones_characters

Suicide of L'Wren Scott in March this year--

This is the greatest tragedy--only read about it now--Mick Jagger's girlfriend, L'Wren Scott, successful model and designer, committed suicide in March by hanging herself from a doorknob with a scarf, and left her entire estate worth $9 m to Jagger.

Why????

Is like a scream of grief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Wren_Scott

My second review of The Siege: Inside the Taj Hotel Mumbai--

I finished reading The Siege:  68 hours inside the Taj Hotel Mumbai about 7-10 days ago.

The hyped up "journalistic" language annoyed me till the end, until I got to the section where the authors reported on how they did their research and organized the story/structured the story for the book.

Then the language stopped "trying too hard" and settled down almost into boring academic style, seemingly shooting to the other extreme.

Beyond that, I would still recommend the book, for the stories. 

It is very well-structured and scened, like a movie, and begins with one of the terrorists slitting the throat of a fisherman whose dinghy they commandeered as they rush towards the seaside Taj Hotel.

(Oh, they should have had a map of the seven Mumbai Islands)

The back story of how the terrorists were recruited and trained is also scary and informative.

I also like it for the complex weaving of the stories of everyone involved, from the Pakistani-American CIA operative double agent David Headly, to the girl in the computer center and the brave chefs and waiters.

It also draws comparisons between India's slow and tied up in red tape government sector and its efficient private sector, which I thought was very perceptive and real.

Also, as in the best fiction, the "characters"  i.e. the people, change over time.

Magnificent, if you can get past the bloated language at the sentence level.

It should just be pulled off the shelves again, properly copy-edited, and re-issued as a second edition with the same cover.

That's what should be done.

KMKaung
5-26-2014





Tepid Irrawaddy Literary Fest in Feb 2014--Late for Nowhere--

http://latefornowhere.wordpress.com/tag/u-thaw-kaung/

Burma Library Survey --

http://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/MyanmarLibrarySurvey.pdf

Saturday, May 24, 2014

An excellent site on Burma that you shld check daily--

An excellent and comprehensive blog site on Burma, that I can never recommend highly enough.

Disclosure--I have an open invitation to post on this site whenever I wish, Thank you Webmaster, but I seldom do now as its coverage is already so comprehensive, and some of my stuff can be considered as ads for my fiction and art work, and have no direct link to Burma news nor analysis.

I strongly urge you to visit this site often.

http://internationalcampaignforfreedom.blogspot.com/
Blogger
accounts.google.com

CNN taken off air in Thailand--

This was on the CNN international site, pl share widely--

"CNN TV has been taken off air in Thailand. The people of Thailand deserve to know what is happening in their own country, and CNN is committed to telling them. Follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter, and share your updates from Thailand via CNN iReport."

Thai military tightens coup grip



Pavin in Japan says he won’t turn himself in
FB
5-24-2014

Thai coup Thai junta--

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/thai-coup-leaders-summon-ousted-premiers-leading-politicians-for-talks/2014/05/23/b866c6c0-e250-11e3-810f-764fe508b82d_story.html

My novella FGM about the mutilation of women is now out in Kindle and Print editions

Published a Book

FGM: A Story about the Mutilation of Women.
Dr. Aset, a trained gynecologist with several post graduate American degrees, lets herself be drawn into an inappropriate
relationship.

My novella FGM is now available on Kindle--http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJ3FUOE

there is also a print edition on the CreateSpace/Amazon store.

https://www.createspace.com/4738586

Friday, May 23, 2014

My novella The Lovers --in Kindle and print editions on Amazon--

Kindle edition of my novella The Lovers--to date 4! woman writers from Burma have wanted to translate this-

Two lovers from Chile have to flee and fetch up in Philadelphia in the USA--

lots of violence, guns and sex--

and fear--

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lovers-Novellas-K-M-Kaung-Kaung-ebook/dp/B00JX8NZRU

There is also a print edition on CreateSpace/Amazon.

My translation of Ananta Thuriya, Burmese minister/poet killed by the king

http://www.kmkaung.com/files/Graphics/Writings/Ananta_Thuriya__Translation_by_KM_Kaung_.pdf

Economist magazine says Burma still one of worst places in world to do business

Take a large pinch of salt--http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21592658-optimism-about-business-prospects-final-frontier-may-be-overblown-reality-check

Another short story by my late cousin, Writer Min Shin--

Message from Saung Luu Lin via email--thank you! Will listen.

ွေဆာင္းလုလင္ has left a new comment on your post "I found my late cousin Ko Min Shin's short story, ...":

ေဒၚႀကည္ေမေကာင္းခင္ဗ်ား- ဆရာမင္းရွင္ရဲ႕ ၀တၳဳတုိ ေနာက္တစ္ပုဒ္ (ေရာင္းခါစ)ကုိလည္း ကၽြန္ေတာ္ အသံထြက္၀တၳဳအျဖစ္ ဖန္တီးထားပါေသးတယ္။
http://nwaymoresaung.blogspot.sg/2013/10/blog-post_26.html
ကၽြန္ေတာ့္ရဲ႕ေႏြမုိးေဆာင္း၀က္ဆုိက္မွာ ေတြ႔ႏုိင္ပါတယ္ ခင္ဗ်ား။ (ေဆာင္းလုလင္)

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Burma--all one bloody play--

Bah!!
Burma,
It's all one god-damned play.
Who is writing the script?
Who do you think?
Who THINKS they are writing the script
the foreign governments and the NGOS.
Who is doing central casting?
Both the former and the latter.
But the former has a larger population to draw on and can pay and promise more.
Who are the major players and actors.
Everyone you see on TV and the news.
How will it end.
Probably not well.
One thing is certain though
we are
in the
End Game.

xyzn
5-21-2014

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Burmese actor Kyaw Thu and his Free Funeral Society

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/former-burmese-movie-star-finds-leading-role-activist/

Quote of the Day--on Letpadan Taung, Burma, land grabs

Quote of the day, from an academic paper 2013 on Letpadan, Burma and land grabs--
http://www.lawanddevelopment.net/img/2013papers/EmelZerrouk-AndreasNeef.pdf


"Conflict over land,
and the right to use it,
is as old as community
.
Yet
in
recent years, in the
face of
the global financial
crisis and
growing
food & energy security concerns,
global
attention to land conflicts triggered by
‘land grabbing’ has increased.
Land grabbing stresses
the in
-equitability of land tenure change that occur within a nation, but in
conjunction
with
national, regional and international actors.
In Myanmar a
growing number of
these cases
have
been recorded
.
One notable and evidently
news
-worthy example
is that of the Letpadaung
copper mine
2
expansion project
, which
has been behind a series of land grabs that have led to
nationwide protests.
In a nation where around a third of the population lives below the
poverty line
3
, and 70% are dependent on the agricultural sector for their livelihoods, issues of
land and the right to it are essential.
This
paper explores
discourses surrounding the copper mine expansion project’s land
grabs and related protests
as
produced
by
the
national and international
media
4
.
In other
words
,
it analyzes
how media has chosen to
give weight
to
certain themes related to this case
of land grabbing over time
and
then
contextualizes
the results--"

I did not do anything, just cut and paste, but it became poetry, so leaving as is.
kmk

Blogger Kanloan on my novella Black Rice--

http://anthropologist.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/black-rice-a-novella-by-k-m-kaung/

Monday, May 19, 2014

Dr Maung Zarni and VOA news--Burmese junta is behind new racial purity law and sangha central committee.

From Dr Maung Zarni:

"I have been saying and writing about this for 2 years - and even the anti-racist senior western diplomats kept telling me there was NO EVIDENCE or BASIS  to establish the LINK between the anti-Rohingya mass violence, anti-Muslim GENOCIDAL hate speech, and everything else that is so 19th century and so despicably racist at the communal level AND the 'reformist' Government of President Thein Sein.
Even Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world with a vested economic interest in Burma's resource extractive sector, keeps promoting the policy fantasy that all that that is violent and hate-ridden is merely 'communal, 'sectarian' - or to use the fancy jargon 'horizontal'.

Here is the latest news analysis brought to you not by activists but but the United States Government's official Burmese language program.

I am actually surprised that the United States that spends billions of dollars on international intelligence gathering can't figure out who has all along been behind 969. "neo-Nazi Buddhist" campaign.   

One can't help wonder whether this slow intelligence gathering is the result of the fact that the genocidal campaign is directed at the Muslims and the oil-less Rohingya - not at those who may be linked with US strategic interests. 

12 mins · Edited · 
Source: Voice of America ‪#‎Myamar‬ leaders, government and the Parliament leaders, are officially supportive of #969 and its ‪#‎Nazi‬-inspired off-shoot the league for the 'Defence of Race and ‪#‎Buddhist‬Faith'.
‪#‎Myanmar‬ government and Parliament (President and ex-gen. Thein Sein, Speaker of the House and ex-general Shwe Mann and the Minister of Religious Affairs and ex-general Hsan Hsint) are reportedly directly behind 969, Myanmar's Nazi-inspired "Buddhist" movement led by Wirathu and other racist 'monks'.
I salute the two brave and truthful Burmese reporters - Daw Ingyin Myaing and U Sithu Aung Myint for this story.
SOURCE: The Voice of America Burmese Language News Analysis, 19 May 2014
"

Sunday, May 18, 2014

From Amazon wikipedia--

Amazon--from Amazon wiki--

"The company was founded in 1994, spurred by what Bezos called his "regret minimization framework", which described his efforts to fend off any regrets for not participating sooner in the Internet business boom during that time.[17] In 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co., a Wall Street firm, and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a business plan for what would eventually become Amazon.com.

After reading a report about the future of the Internet which projected annual Web commerce growth at 2,300%, Bezos created a list of 20 products which could be marketed online. He narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products which included: compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos, and books. Bezos finally decided that his new business would sell books online, due to the large world-wide demand for literature, the low price points for books, along with the huge number of titles available in print.[18] Amazon[19] was originally founded in Bezos' garage in Bellevue, Washington."

Friday, May 16, 2014

RIP--Ron Moreau

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/15/remembering-ron-moreau-goodbye-to-a-war-reporting-legend.html

Just given to a reporter on publishing electronically--

Just given to a reporter--

That said, I would recommend self-publishing or publishing under your own imprint (own press logo) especially for authors such as former political prisoners in Burma--this is like an open, low cost (comparative) and widely disseminated electronic publishing and you also get 35-70% of the list price. Besides, more people read and buy books on Kindle and other electronic devices these days than in the print form.

In short, brick and mortar book stores are on the way out, already out, as see closure of Borders.

50 Shades of Grey was self-published, and many others, including a friend, who is on the NYTs bestseller list.

Electronic publishing has changed the face of the 21st century book and multimedia publishing industry.

Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)
5-16-2014

Thank you to the reporter who just spoke to me, and I look forward to seeing your published article.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Linh Dinh on America the beautiful--

http://wwwwsonneteighteencom.blogspot.com/

What I think ref. Burma Bubble--

Burma Bubble--
Colliers Man--see DVB interview said

--he says there is no bubble to burst as no bank financing—maybe no bubble to burst in western sense.  He thinks Burmese land prices will even out over 10-20 years.  He thinks the rich landowners are asking outrageous prices depending on what they think they will get.

Know what I think?  I think there is a Bubble and it will burst.

How and when?

Right before or immediately after the 2015 "election" whichever month that is. 

Since 2012, one Burma visitor says prices, not just land, food, everything, has increased 150%

This is ALL fueled by the expectation that there will be change and it's all going to be hunky dory.

But the military regime is already doing its time tested best at shooting itself in the foot.

1.  genocide grade mistreatment of Rohingya--2  amped up war with Kachin--3.  amped up land grabs.

4.  Presdt Obama just again extended sanctions.

5.  One white skinned DVB correspondent has been deported, a brown skinned one sentenced to 12 years in jail.

6.  I got the inside scoop since about 6 months ago that "advising the Bur Presdt" has not been going well and now "rats are leaving the sinking ship."

Let's see shall we, who will be right.

I hate to say, I told you so.

kmk
5-15-2014

Asian Human Rights Commission on Burmese land grabs

Asian Human Rights Commission on Burmese land grabs.
It ain't good and it will lead to the shit hitting the fan.
Mark my words.

kmk
5-15-2014

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1405/S00134/burmamyanmar-courts-cops-cronies-driving-farmers-to-ruin.htm

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Jon Krakauer, mountaineer and writer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Krakauer

Amazon top 100 bestselling books--

Amazon top 100 bestselling books-
updated hourly so don't bother trying to write lookalikes, though a lot of people do, some very successfully (commercially).

You'd be surprised at what is (still) on this list--so my advice is read and write the classics.

I am so pleased this list includes quite a few I have read, including The Little Blue Truck, the "graduation book" and Hungry Green Caterpillar.

So I know I have sure-fire tastes.

http://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books







Amazon Best Sellers: Best Books
www

Monday, May 12, 2014

My novella Black Rice, Kindle & print editions--

My novella Black Rice--Kindle and print editions--I don't know what it is, but this character seems much liked by my audience.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rice-K-M-Kaung-ebook/dp/B00D0EHGYQ

DC Night--real & visual poem by KMKaung

DC Night--
Real and Visual Poetry-Words & Images Copyright KM Kaung

In the night
the male and female mannikins
half torso-ed
full bodied
sanitized
stand guard.

Too good to be true
featureless
they skewer you
with their synthetic
perfection--

They say
buy this
buy this

all will be well

just lose a few more
pounds and
dollars

they pierce

many people's

body images

make them all feel

too fat

too ugly.

That must be another war
won.

They say
mannikins
models
photo shoots

are designed

by men

who hate women.

We will see.

KMKaung
One day after Mother's Day--5-12-2014


All 19 of the books I have reviewed on Amazon so far--

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AI19NKJI4NW4X/ref=cr_cm_rdp_pdp_see_all?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

Friday, May 09, 2014

Horrific gifts for Mother's Day--

Mother's Day coming up this Sunday--if you're a mother don't let any of this happen to your children.

My novella FGM is still in last stages of publication, but these will also be great mother's day gifts.

They're not like a bunch of flowers which will be thrown out in one week, but then, mothers can change the world.

Links to my recent publications of novellas and short stories. Out of 6, 2 are still in last stages of publication, The Rider of Crocodiles and FGM, because the font is too small in my opinion in the print edition.

Of course, on the Kindle, font size can be enlarged.

So I have to upload again.

1. No Crib for a Bed and Other Stories, Kindle Edition
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JW2ZD40
No Crib for a Bed, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4768879?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
2. The Lovers, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4767856?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
The Lovers, Kindle edition
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lovers-Novellas-K-M-Kaung-Kaung-ebook/dp/B00JX8NZRU
3. Black Rice, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4232789?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
Black Rice, Kindle Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rice-Novella-K-Kaung/dp/0615797520
4. Dancing like a Peacock and Koel Bird
My two stories, Dancing like a Peacock and Koel Bird are also available on Create Space, print edition. Published by Words Sounds and Images--
A seven year old girl is sent off across the border to earn a living and send money home to Burma. A computer expert finds--

https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=K+Kaung+dancing+like+a+peacock&sitesearch_type=STORE

My short story collection-

Dancing like a Peacock & Koel Bird, also includes Little Transparent Fetus Buddha.

Print (soft cover) + Kindle editions

http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Peacock-Bird-Border-Stories-ebook/dp/B00JWZSL3C
No Crib for a Bed and Other Stories (Novellas)
www.

Thursday, May 08, 2014

Opening lines of --

Opening lines of--

A Visit with the Proverbial Child, in the Garden of Paradise.

For some years now, really decades, this little boy, about four years old, has been appearing in my dreams.
It happened immediately after 1988, when the mass pro-democracy demonstrations failed in Burma, and a lot of people died.
And all my hair turned white.

Copyright KMKaung
5-8-2014

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Burma, Thailand--6.3 earthquake

http://asiancorrespondent.com/122365/live-magnitude-6-0-earthquake-hits-in-northern-thailand/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=live-quake-felt-in-bangkok-yangon-and-chiang-mai

Links to my recent publications of short stories and novellas--

Links to my recent publications of novellas and short stories. Out of 6, 2 are still in last stages of publication, The Rider of Crocodiles and FGM, because the font is too small in my opinion in the print edition.

Of course, on the Kindle, font size can be enlarged.

So I have to upload again.

1. No Crib for a Bed and Other Stories, Kindle Edition
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JW2ZD40
No Crib for a Bed, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4768879?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
2. The Lovers, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4767856?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
The Lovers, Kindle edition
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lovers-Novellas-K-M-Kaung-Kaung-ebook/dp/B00JX8NZRU
3. Black Rice, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4232789?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
Black Rice, Kindle Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rice-Novella-K-Kaung/dp/0615797520
4. Dancing like a Peacock and Koel Bird
My two stories, Dancing like a Peacock and Koel Bird are also available on Create Space, print edition. Published by Words Sounds and Images--
A seven year old girl is sent off across the border to earn a living and send money home to Burma. A computer expert finds--

https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=K+Kaung+dancing+like+a+peacock&sitesearch_type=STORE

My short story collection-

Dancing like a Peacock & Koel Bird, also includes Little Transparent Fetus Buddha.

Print (soft cover) + Kindle editions

http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Peacock-Bird-Border-Stories-ebook/dp/B00JWZSL3C
Bill Richardson wiki--Richardson went to Insein Prison in 1995 and visited U Win Tin, among others.
The visit is described in U Win Tin's memoir, What's That?  A Human Hell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Richardson

Tuesday, May 06, 2014

My U Win Tin translation project--

My Project translating U Win Tin's memoir, What's That?  A Human Hell.
Photos and translation copyright KMKaung--
I can only work on this 2-4 hours per week.
So far am about 1/6th into the 300 page book, but it is single space in a very small Burmese font.
I also add footnotes or end notes as I go along, but it will all need to be typed up.

I can't do literary translation on a computer.

Need time to think.

Of course, I've read it all the way through the first time, but I usually read each chapter through and make notes before I translate.

Anyone who thinks they can do a good translation fast should give it a try.

I am sick of journalists asking for excerpts and so once and for all I will say here, my US-based copyright/intellectual property lawyer has advised me not to give out a single copy. 

I make hard copies as I go along and keep in different places.

So it's good I don't have a typed copy except to show the first-- pages to a prospective literary agent.

So if you are not an agent, don't ask me.

I have realized that since I read U Win Tin a lot now, I am picking up his brusque manner of speaking. 

So they can all go to hell.


KMKaung
5-6-2014
www.kmkaung.com

My She-Monkey poster from 1995--

My reading from 1995 and poster made by my friend, when my She-Monkey script was among the Pew Finalists.
Philadelphia. 

Pew Charitable Trusts give arts grants of $30,000 each in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

In three tries, I was a Finalist twice.

The first and third entries were in Literature.  The second entry was a Crafts year.  I had at that point not made any crafts save for sewing, but I entered anyway.  The winner was a Hmong refugee who wrote that she had to sew quilts for money, but would like to make a big piece, "to be remembered by."

By the fourth year (1997) I had already moved to DC, and so was not eligible to apply.

For the She-Monkey finalist position (among the first 76 of about 750 entries)
my friends bought me a cake with my book title on it. 

Shee-Monkey is a book-length poem based on the Chinese folk novel Monkey, but with a female protagonist and a human rights story.

KMKaung
www.kmkaung.com
5-5-2014

Monday, May 05, 2014

Congratulations Dr Min Zaw Oo--

http://scar.gmu.edu/people/min-zaw-oo

Announcement--

Announcement--

Last night I got the idea that I would like to put out (publish) a collection of my dear cousin, Ko Ko Min Shin's short stories in English.

So if you collected some from Shumuwa 1950s "On the Road"--Lann Paw Hmar series, pl send me pdfs that are readable or a doc. in Zawgyi font.

I have Not Every Needy Poor a Thief, which is based on his idea, that he may not have had time to write it down in Burmese.  In any case it has his true authentic voice, which I can hear when I re-read it now.

The second one is of course Not Ordained by Fate--Saung Lu Lin's audio version, which I will translate into English.

I am also looking for a photo of Ko Min Shin.

I know for a fact that he wrote at least 2 other stories, as I remember reading them--

these were

--one on birth control, it really was not that graphic at all, that Ko Ko wanted me to translate very much, but my mother would not let me.

She said the subject matter was not appropriate for a young woman.  I was about 18 at the time.

--The other was about a bus driver, having a very rough day, also drawn from life.

This one, Bus Driver, I adapted into a radio play and even delivered it in an envelope at the BBS (Burma Broadcasting Service) gate on Prome Road, for Mr. Percy Loo Nee, head of the English section.

But I suppose Mr. Loo Nee was too afraid to produce it on air, so I never heard from him again.

But even when I was already in the States, he would keep asking about me with my children who took English tuition with him, "How's your mother, the playwright."

At that time I had not written a play yet, but eventually I did--Shaman.

I wrote it in two weeks for a competition.

Shaman is about a spirit spouse or nat kadaw who was abused as a child and has multiple personalities, which manifest themselves as some of the Burmese 37 nats.

When Shaman was still a one paragraph concept called Flashback, it won a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Award for $3000.

In 1996, it was a Pew finalist script and in about 2003, Edward Albee, renowned playwright Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? and other plays, read it and said, it is "lovely work."

My friend Peggy Fleming produced and directed and cast a script-in-hand reading in 2003 at her home in DC.  I provided the costumes.  I will try and scan the photos.

I currently have to convert Shaman into a novel.  I don't think it will be too difficult to do.  I have already converted it into a screenplay.

But--always short of time--
no matter, I will make myself a life extender (nyaung htauk).

KMKaung
5-5-2014

My short story collection--Dancing like a Peacock, Koel Bird-- Kindle + print editions

  1. My short story collection-

    Dancing like a Peacock & Koel Bird, also includes Little Transparent Fetus Buddha.

    Print (soft cover) + Kindle editions

    http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Peacock-Bird-Border-Stories-ebook/dp/B00JWZSL3C

My novella The Lovers, Kindle edition

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lovers-Novellas-K-M-Kaung-Kaung-ebook/dp/B00JX8NZRU

My Black Rice connection--

The Black Rice connection.

My cousin, the late U Min Shin, winner of the 1962 short story collection prize in Burma, was the eldest brother of Ko Too, on whose life experience Black Rice is very loosely based.

Once I changed his skin color, everything in the story changed, thus only the in the jungle execution, and the Delta ambush (based on a real one also, in which Uncle Cho's son-in-law, U Wa Maung, a navy officer, died)

are real.  The rest is all fictional fabrication.

Here are the links where you can buy print or Kindle editions of Black Rice and my other recently published short stories.

1.    No Crib for a Bed and Other Stories, Kindle Edition
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JW2ZD40
No Crib for a Bed,  print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4768879?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
2.    The Lovers, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4767856?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026
3.     Black Rice, print edition
https://www.createspace.com/4232789?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026Black Rice, Kindle Editionhttp://www.amazon.com/Black-Rice-Novella-K-Kaung/dp/0615797520
4.     Dancing like a Peacock and Koel Bird
My two stories, Dancing like a Peacock and Koel Bird are also available on Create Space, print edition.  Published by Words Sounds and Images--

A seven year old girl is sent off across the border to earn a living and send money home to Burma.  A computer expert finds--

https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=K+Kaung+dancing+like+a+peacock&sitesearch_type=STORE


Sunday, May 04, 2014

I found my late cousin Ko Min Shin's short story, Not Ordained by Fate

Wow--Big Happiness today.

I found new audio version of my first cousin Ko Ko (Ko Min Shin's) short story--Kan Ma Hpan (Not Ordained by Fate).

I did not even know he wrote it or that he won the 1962 Short Story Collection Prize till now, so I am so pleased and moved to hear it.

Big thank you to the excellent reader and producer.

http://nwaymoresaung.blogspot.sg/2013/11/blog-post.html

Of course, I always knew that my cousin was an excellent observer and writer, and in this exquisite story, Min Shin, like the best writers, shows how people change.

Here he does it in only 18 pages.

In this case it is in the negative direction, for no other reason than "it comes easy"--

I won't say more because I wish you to listen.

It's also good if you are working on your Burmese having been born and brought up overseas.

Dedicated to my cousin U Min Shin, who died too soon, his wife Daw Khin Sein, his daughter Khine Khine, who died in a plane accident of their way home from Bagan, and all my Kamayut relatives.

You lived short, colorful lives but it was sure intense.

Love,

K.K
KMKaung
Washington, DC.
5-4-2014


Women, and men? you are more beautiful than you think

http://www.trueactivist.com/gab_gallery/you-are-more-beautiful-than-you-think/

Friday, May 02, 2014

Chinese economy still dominated by the state--

Still dominated by the state--

The reforms have been on since 1978.

WTO since 2001, when I remember everyone so happy abt it.

Here quote fr below:

"When China acceded to the World Trade Organization, or WTO, in December 2001, it did so after all members of the world trading community agreed that, as a transitioning economy, China still operated on nonmarket principles. Because of its prevalent anti-competitive industrial policies and the contradictions between state control and market mechanisms built into its fundamental economic institutions, China’s economy could skew the commercial competitive environment for the entire global economy. As a result, the agreement provided member countries a means to take into account China’s nonmarket economy status for the purposes of monitoring and enforcing trade rules set under the WTO and other international agreements."
Assessing China’s Economic Reform Agenda
www

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Rohingya Genocide Press Release- full official text.

Rohingya Genocide Press Release-
full official text.

United Nations expert says there are “elements of genocide” against Myanmar’s Rohingya

28 April 2014, London

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Tomás Ojéa Quintana has said “There are elements of genocide in Rakhine with respect to Rohingya.”

Speaking at the London Conference on Decades of State-Sponsored Destruction of Myanmar’s Rohingya, Ojéa added “It is crimes against humanity. The possibility of a genocide needs to be discussed. This conference is very important as it does just that.”

The conference marked the first time top legal experts, academics and activists have met at the London School of Economics And Political Science (LSE) and initiated the public debate on whether the persecution of the Rohingya by Myanmar should be considered genocide under international law.

Other speakers included Professor Daniel Feierstein, President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars; and Professor Gianni Tognoni, General Secretary, Permanent People’s Tribunal, Rome.

International legal experts presented definitions of genocide, mechanisms and models for justice. Leading human rights researchers and academics as well as Rohingya refugees offered evidence of decades of systematic persecution of Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar.
Dr Zarni, chair of the conference and visiting fellow at the LSE, made a case for what he called “the slow burning genocide” of Myanmar’s Rohingya since 1978 based on three years of extensive archival research and interviews with military officers and Rohingya victims.

The conference concluded with a call for the immediate end to Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingya, which it says amounts to genocide. The message is supported by dozens of concerned individuals and organisations including: Prudentienne Seward, a survivor of the Rwanda genocide against Tutsis and Founder of PAX (Peace for the African Great Lakes), Professor Noam Chomsky of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University Professor Gayatria Chakravoty Spivak, Oxford University Professor Emeritus and founder of Refugee Studies Barbara Harrell-Bond, London School of Economics Professor Mary Kaldor and Executive Director Youk Chhang of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

The call notes, “Every aspect of their (Rohingya) lives, including marriage, childbirth and ability to work, is severely restricted. Their right to identity and citizenship is officially denied; in other words, they are not recognized as humans before the law… Rohingya are profoundly vulnerable to all forms of oppression and atrocities.”

It points out that alone of all the country’s more than 130 ethnic groups, only Rohingya are subjected to a policy of forced population control. By denying the Rohingya legal existence, designing extensive structures of discrimination and depriving a large segment of Rohingya population even basic humanitarian services such as provision of water, food and medicine the Myanmar government and people are destroying an entire people.

“Our people have been subject to a national policy of discrimination, persecution and eventual destruction at the hands of security forces and local extremists for the past nearly 40 years. I appeal to the world not to let another Rwanda repeat for Rohingya,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK, which sponsors legislation at the US Congress calling for the end to persecution of Rohingya.

“The United Nations has taken 20 years to apologise for its failure to recognise and prevent the Rwandan genocide; the international community should not repeat the same mistake in Myanmar,” said Prudentienne Seward.

#end text#

Contacts:
Dr Zarni : fanon2005@gmail.com
Tun Khin: tunkhin80@gmail.com

Specialpost--Ellen Bernstein--expose of World Bank Rohingya project--

https://www.irrawaddy.com/culture/books/hellfire-and-damnation-in-myanmar-ex-world-bank-country-head-recounts-rohingya-catastrophe-response....