New Writing from Tibet

Following on from our symposium in September on Non-Han fiction and film in China, we welcome three scholars  to discuss their work on Tibetan literature and cultural heritage. The event will consist of two talks, followed by a round-table discussion from 3.30, with refreshments to follow.

This event will have a special focus on the work of Tsering Döndrup, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed authors writing in Tibetan today, and we're delighted that his translator Chris Peacock will be joining us to discuss his translation of The Handsome Monk & Other Stories, recently published by Columbia University Press.

Chris is completing his PhD at Columbia University, focusing Tibetan literary and intellectual nationalism from the 1980s onward. You can see an interview with Chris about his work here, where he discusses Tsering Döndrup's work and how he came to translate this book.

We'll also be joined by Dr Tim Thurston, a lecturer here in East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds. His research focuses on Tibetan language and society in the transition into modernity. In particular, he examines Tibetan oral traditions and emergent practices in the context of modern China. Tim speaks Chinese and two dialects of Tibetan and has spent over five years in Tibetan-inhabited areas of Western China. In addition to teaching and research, he also co-hosts the New Books in Folklore and New Books in East Asian Studies podcasts.

And Dr Jane Caple, Marie-Curie Fellow at the University of Copenhagen will also be joining us to lead a round-table discussion. Jane's current Marie Curie project, Wealth, Virtue and Social Justice, (funded by the European Commission) examines the relationship between Buddhism and ideas about wealth, virtue and social justice in contemporary Tibet, based ethnographic on data collected during fieldwork since 2008.

There will be refreshments provided, as well as a bookstall from Blackwells Books, giving you the opportunity to buy The Handsome Monk, as well as a selection of other books.

The event is free, but please register on our Eventbrite page.