The Penguin Book of Modern Tibetan Essays

by Tenzin Dickie

The Penguin Book of Modern Tibetan Essays is a groundbreaking anthology of modern Tibetan non-fiction. This unprecedented collection celebrates the art of the modern Tibetan essay and comprises some of the best Tibetan writers working today in Tibetan, English and Chinese.

There are essays on lost friends, stolen inheritances, prison notes and secret journeys from-and to-Tibet, but there are also essays on food, the Dalai Lama's Gar dancer, love letters, lotteries and the Prince of Tibet. The collection offers a profound commentary not just on the Tibetan nation and Tibetan exile, but also on the romance, comedy and tragedy of modern Tibetan life.

For this anthology, editor and translator Tenzin Dickie has commissioned and collected 28 essays from 22 Tibetan writers, including Woeser, Jamyang Norbu, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Pema Bhum and Lhashamgyal.

This book of personal essays by Tibetan writers is a landmark addition to contemporary Tibetan letters as well as a significant contribution to global literature.

Genres: Nonfiction

328 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 29, 2023

About the author

Tenzin Dickie’s translation work focuses on a group of poets and writers from northeastern Tibet. Her translations have been published in the Washington Post online and are forthcoming from Modern Poetry in Translation. Her poetry and essays have been published in Indian Literature, The Yellow Nib: Modern English Poetry by Indians, Apogee Journal, Tibetan Review, and Cultural Anthropology, among other publications. She is an editor of Tibetan Political Review and Tibet Web Digest. She is also editor of the Treasury of Lives, a biographical encyclopedia of significant figures from Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalayan Region. She has an MFA in Fiction and Literary Translation from Columbia University, where she was a Hertog Fellow, and a BA from Harvard University. She was a 2014 ALTA Fellow of the American Literary Translators’ Association.

Reviews

[Tenzin Tsega · Rating 5 out of 5]

some of these stories actually had me sobbing on the plane. also, ‘love letters’ has my heart it was actually so nostalgic and i felt like i was reliving my tibetan school days in india as well. we need more fun tibetan stories actually!

[Rehana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad I could lay my hands on Tibetan literature, which is indeed very difficult to find. This anthology is a collection of 28 short stories celebrating the work of 28 Tibetan authors who write their hearts out about their life experiences and their connection with their homeland. Whenever Tibet is mentioned, I can only think of the Dalai Lama, Buddhism, their architectural marvel and beautiful landscapes. But this book provides new perspectives on Tibet through the eyes of these authors.

The authors share about their beautiful childhood filled with its rich culture and heritage, which later got disrupted by the encroachment of China into Tibet. Many residents were forced to take sides or flee their homeland to spend the rest of their lives as refugees. Their stories about their loss of childhood, loss of identity and relationships really pained me. There were also so many enlightening facts about their religion, food and culture, which I never knew existed before.

Though the anthology is written by various authors, the tone of the entire book is monotonous, and the stories are similar (probably because most of them had to suffer through similar fates). But that was one thing that put me off sometimes, making me brush up through a few pages. Apart from this, if you would love to learn about Tibetan history and literature, do pick this book up.




MY REVIEW: 3.5/5

#penbooksandscalpel

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It does what it says on the cover. Good read for those curious about Tibetans and their continued history. Through a good mix of different authors covering different times, it touches on many different aspects of Tibetan history, culture, and even geography. Features essays by - who I have come to realise are - key Tibetan writers in the modern age, both within Tibet and outside. I enjoyed flipping through each essay and taking in the vivid and different histories it sought to acquaint me with.

[Praveen Kuttuva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really thought-provoking read – sometimes gut-wrenching, sometimes heart-warming.
A collection of personal essays by Tibetan authors fully exploring the life and times of people living as exiles and refugees.
Some of these essays are about a particular incident, whereas some others are about an entire journey; still others about both.
Some of these essays are about people longing for their homes, whereas some others are about people adapting to new environments; still others about both.
Some of these essays are about food and dance, whereas others are about greed and benevolence.

This collection is not political in nature – this is not a call to arms, so to speak, but rather people trying to hold on to their culture through storytelling and revisiting memories.
(Perhaps, there was some coded language between these lines that I failed to understand)
And as all of us are migrants one way or the other, this collection relates to us as well – either now, or in the past, or in the future (possibly as climate refugees).

I’m sure there is a collection of essays about people who did not flee their homeland and continued to struggle, and stories about people that died doing so…but that shouldn’t stop us from learning valuable insights from these real-life experiences.

[tenzin · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved all the essays! reminded me of all the amazing stories I grew up hearing from the tibetan people I know 🫶