Čhiranan Pitpreecha (born 1955) is a Thai poet and feminist. For a time, she had the married name Čhiranan Prasertkul. Her surname also appears as Phitprīchā. She is a recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award.

Biography

The daughter of a bookstore owner, she was born in Trang Province. Pitpreecha was a prominent student activist in the

1973 Thai popular uprising The popular uprising of 14 October 1973 ( th, เหตุการณ์ 14 ตุลา, , ; also , , ) was a watershed event in Thailand's history. The uprising resulted in the end of the ruling military dictatorship of anti-communist Thanom ...

; following the

Thammasat University massacre The 6 October 1976 massacre, or the 6 October event ( th, เหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลา ) as it is known in Thailand, was a violent crackdown by Thai police and lynching by right-wing paramilitaries and bystanders against leftist ...

in October 1976, she fled to the jungle and joined the

Communist Party of Thailand The Communist Party of Thailand ( Abrv: CPT; th, พรรคคอมมิวนิสต์แห่งประเทศไทย, ) was a communist party in Thailand active from 1942 until the 1990s. Initially known as the Communist Party ...

. Pitpreecha returned to

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

in 1981. With her husband

Seksan Prasertkul Seksan Prasertkul ( th, เสกสรรค์ ประเสริฐกุล, born 1949) is a Thai author who was awarded the title National Artist of Thailand in 2009. Seksan became a student leader at Thammasat University and was active ...

, she went to the United States, where she earned a BA and MA in history from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

. After her return to Thailand, she separated from her husband. Pitpreecha's poem "Cracked Pebble" received an award for best poem of 1981 from

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...

Thailand. She has written a variety of work, including poetry, history, travel articles and social commentary, for various publications in Thailand. Her first collection of poems ''Bai Mai Ti Hai Pai'' (The Missing Leaf) received the S.E.A. Write Award in 1989. In 1992, her poem "First Rain" was named best poem of the year by PEN International Thailand. In 2011, she was named one of the 65 most influential women in Thailand. Her work has been translated into English, French, German, Russian, Japanese and Malay.

References

Chiranan Pitpreecha Chiranan Pitpreecha 1955 births Living people Chiranan Pitpreecha Cornell University alumni 20th-century poets 21st-century poets Chiranan Pitpreecha Chiranan Pitpreecha Chiranan Pitpreecha Chiranan Pitpreecha Marxist feminists {{Thailand-writer-stub