Khin Hnin Yu (, ; 7 September 1925 – 21 January 2003) was a two-time

Myanmar National Literature Award Myanmar National Literature Awards ( my, အမျိုးသား စာပေဆု) are awards presented to a Burmese author who has published a particularly lauded piece or body of work. There are awards for forms of writing ranging from poe ...

winner. She is considered one of the most influential Burmese women writers. Her stories are known for their realistic portrayal of life in post-World War II Burma (now Myanmar). She is an early member of Distinguished women writers, who represent an ever-present force in Burmese literary history, along with

Kyi Aye Kyi Kyi Tin-Myint, known by her pen name Kyi Aye ( my, ကြည်အေး) was a Burmese poet, novelist, and short story writer. Born in Yangon, she studied at University of Medicine and University of Yangon. She is credited as one of the mos ...

and

San San Nweh San San Nweh ( my, စမ်းစမ်းနွဲ့ (or) စမ်းစမ်းနွဲ့ (သာယာဝတီ), ; or San San Nwe) is a Burmese writer and journalist. She was jailed for nearly seven years (1994–2001) by the Burmese ...

. Almost all her over 50 published novels involve young heroines who had to struggle for their survival. Khin Hnin Yu was a cousin of, and the personal secretary for, the former Burmese Prime Minister

U Nu Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...

for more than 20 years. Khin Hnin Yu attended Myoma High School in Yangon. She died in 2003 at the age of 78.

Biography

Khin Hnin Yu was born Khin Su (), the fifth of seven children, to

Daw Daw or DAW may refer to: People and language * Daw (given name) * Daw (surname) * Daw, an honorific used in Burmese name#Honorifics, Burmese names * Dâw people, an indigenous people of Brazil * Dâw language, a language of Brazil * Davaoeño lang ...

Thein Tin and school teacher U Ba in

Wakema Wakema is a town in the Ayeyarwady Division of south-west Myanmar. It is the seat of the Wakema Township in the Myaungmya District. It is home to the Government Technological Institute, Wakema (formerly the Government Technical Institute, Wakema). ...

in the

Irrawaddy delta The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mouth of the A ...

. A cousin of

, she served as the former Prime Minister's personal secretary for more than 20 years. She married Kyaw Thaung, a colonel in the Burmese army, in 1950. Her first short story "Ayaing" ("The Wild") was published in ''Sar Padaytha'' magazine in 1947. In 1950, her first novel, ''Nwe Naung Ywet Kyan'' (; Remnant Leaf of Late Summer), was published in ''Shumawa'' magazine. She wrote over 50 novels and most are known for her political views of the parliamentary and military socialist eras (1948-1980s). For example, her 1955 short story "Mhyawlint Lo Phyint Ma Sohn Naing De" ("Still Hoping") covers the social stigma still faced by a daughter of former pagoda slaves. A

semi-biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...

''Kyunma Chit Thu'' (; My Lover) was banned by Gen. Ne Win's government, and the themes of her later books shifted to focus on religion. Khin Hnin Yu died in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

on 21 January 2003 at the

Yangon General Hospital The Yangon General Hospital (YGH, my, ရန်ကုန် ပြည်သူ့ ဆေးရုံကြီး) is a major public hospital in a compound in Yangon, Myanmar. The 2,000-bed hospital consists of seven medical wards, three surgical ...

Works

Khin Hnin Yu wrote over 50 novels and about six volumes of short-stories collections. Her famous works include: Most of her novels are adapted into the famous films. Her novella ''Pan Pan Lhwet Par'' (Still Wearing Flower) was made into film of the same name in 1963, starring

Kawleikgyin Ne Win ''Kawleikgyin'' Ne Win ( my, ကောလိပ်ဂျင်နေဝင်း, ; 1 October 1928 – 2 June 1983) was a two-time Burmese Academy Award winning Burmese film actor and director. Early life Ne Win was born in Hinthada (Henza ...

, Myat Lay and Kyi Kyi Htay. It was very successful, running over 25 weeks and become highest-grossing film in history of Myanmar Cinema.

Awards

Khin Hnin Yu won top

twice. *1953: Popular Reader Choice (Myawaddy Magazine), ''Tharahpu'' *1961: Myanmar National Literature Award for Collected Short Stories, ''Kyemon Yeik-Thwin Wuttu-to Myar'' *1995: Myanmar National Literature Award for Fiction,''Mya Kyar Phyu''

References

{{Authority control 1925 births 2003 deaths Burmese writers People from Ayeyarwady Region 20th-century Burmese writers 20th-century Burmese women writers