Pascal Khoo Thwe (born 1967) is a Burmese author from the minority Padaung people, known for his autobiographic writings about growing up in Burma under military rule. His book, ''From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey'', was awarded the

Kiriyama Prize The Kiriyama Prize was an international literary award awarded to books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Its goal was to encourage greater understanding among the peoples and nations of the region. Established in 1996, the prize was last awar ...

Biography

Thwe was born in Pekon (''Phekhon, Pekong, Pecong, Pékon''),

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ( L ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(Myanmar). He is the eldest of six sons and five daughters. His father died in 1996 in Thailand. By a chance encounter with Dr. John Casey, a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

don, Khoo Thwe was rescued from the jungles of

where he and other student refugees were fighting

Burmese soldiers Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (horse), a ...

for independence. In 1991 Khoo Thwe enrolled in

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of ...

where he received his BA in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

in 1995. Khoo Thwe's autobiographical book "From the Land of Green Ghosts"Pascal Khoo Thwe: The Land of Green Ghosts"", Radio Netherlands Archives, October 26 2003
/ref> was published by Harper-Collins in 2002. He currently resides in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

References

External links

* Pascal Khoo Thwe, ''From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey'' (2002),
BBC Radio 4: Taking a Stand
- BBC journalist Fergal Keane interviews Pascal Khoo Thwe about his life for a radio programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 18 December 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Khoo Thwe, Pascal Burmese writers 1967 births Living people Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Burmese people of Karen descent People from Shan State Burmese expatriates in the United Kingdom