Ma Thanegi ( my, မသိင်္ဂီ; born 1946
) is a Burmese writer, best known for her numerous English works on various Burmese topics, including travel, history and cuisine.
She was a contributing editor to the ''
Myanmar Times
''The Myanmar Times'' ( ), founded in 2000, is the oldest privately owned and operated English-language newspaper in Myanmar. A division of Myanmar Consolidated Media Co., Ltd. (MCM), ''The Myanmar Times'' published weekly English and Burmese-lan ...
'' and editor of ''Enchanting Myanmar'', a travel magazine.
She was born to father Tin Tut and mother May Tin Tut. and has one older brother Aye Tut. She attended the prestigious Methodist English High School of Yangon (Rangoon).
She was a painter in the early part of her life with many annual group shows (1967 onwards) and seven solo shows (1985 to (1998) after which she began her writing career. She has also translated some Burmese writings of others into English such as works of
Khin Hnin Yu and Daw Ma Ma lay etc.
Thanegi attended
Methodist English High School, the Rangoon State School of Fine Arts, the
Rangoon Institute of Economics, and
Institute of Foreign Languages, where she studied
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
French.
Thanegi served as
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...
's personal assistant before her arrest in 1989, following the
8888 Uprising
The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power UprisingYawnghwe (1995), pp. 170 and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) th ...
.
She served a prison term at
Insein Jail until her release in 1992.
She fell out of favor among the Burmese pro-democracy movement for her challenge to the
National League for Democracy
The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (Burma). It ...
's doctrine that economic sanctions and tourism boycotts were harming the country's poor majority.
In 1997, she published "The Burmese Fairy Tale," an essay in the ''
Far Eastern Economic Review
The ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (''FEER'') was an Asian business magazine published between 1946 and December 2009 in the English language. Based in Hong Kong, the news magazine published weekly until December 2004, when it converted to a m ...
'', claiming that sanctions hurt the Burmese people without effectively changing the Burmese regime (then known as the
State Law and Order Restoration Council
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our ...
)'s behavior.
Selected works
*''The Illusion of Life: Burmese Marionettes'' (1994)
*''The Native Tourist: in search of turtle eggs'' (2000)
*''Myanmar Pilgereise'' (2002)
*''The Native Tourist: a holiday pilgrimage in Myanmar'' (2004)
*''
Paw Oo Thet
Paw Oo Thet ( my, ပေါ်ဦးသက်, ; 1936 – 13 April 1993) was a Burmese painter, prominent in the Mandalay art scene who became one of the initiators of a modernistic art movement in Burma in the early 1960s.
Early training
...
t: His Life and Creativity'' (2004)
*''An Introduction to Myanmar Cuisine'' (2004)
*''Inle Lake: blue sea in the Shan Hills'' (2005)
*''Splendours of Myanmar'' (2005)
*''Myanmar Architecture: Cities of Gold''
(2005)
*''Myanmar Painting: from worship to self imaging'' (2006)
*''Shwedagon Mystique'' (2007)
*''Inside the Southeast Asian Kitchen'' (2007)
*''Material Choices'' (2007)
*''Burma/ Myanmar'' (2008)
*''Birmanie: voyage intérieur'' (2008)
*''To Myanmar with Love'' (2009)
*''Defiled on the Ayeyarwaddy: One Woman’s Mid-Life Travel Adventures on Myanmar’s Great River''
(2010)
*''This is
Kin Maung Yin'' (2010)
*''Thanakha: Nature's Gift to Myanmar'' (2011)
*''Naga: A Celebration of Identity'' (2011)
*''Nats: Spirits of Fortune and Fear'' (2011)
*''Bagan Mystique'' (2012)
*''Nor Iron Bars a Cage'' (2013)
*''Ginger Salad and Water Wafers'' (2013)
*''Bagan Lacquerware'' (2013)
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanegi, Ma
1946 births
People from Yangon
Burmese writers
Burmese journalists
Burmese women journalists
Living people