KHOO THWE, Pascal 1967-

PERSONAL:

Born 1967, in Phekon, Burma. Education: Attended Mandalay University, Mandalay, Burma; graduated from Caius College, Cambridge, 1994.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, HarperCollins, 10 East 53rd St., Seventh Floor, New York, NY 10023.

CAREER:

Writer and political activist.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Kiriyama Prize for nonfiction, Pacific Rim Voices, 2002, for From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey.

WRITINGS:

From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey (memoir), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

Pascal Khoo Thwe made his debut as an author with an account of his eventful and unusual life—from his childhood in a village he describes as "the only Catholic town in Burma," through his growth into a scholar of literature and member of his country's prodemocracy movement, to his escape from the Burmese government's oppression by immigrating to England for study at Cambridge University. This book, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, is "as heart-wrenching as it is amazing," in the opinion of Time International reviewer Andrew Marshall. It also shows Khoo Thwe, according to New York Times Book Review contributor Barbara Crossette, to be a "writer of uncommon elegance and sensitivity" who has provided "a powerful portrait of a suffering nation."

Khoo Thwe was born in the isolated village of Phekon, a member of the Paduang, a minority ethnic group in Burma, who had been converted to Catholicism by an Italian missionary a few generations earlier. They mixed the new religion with their indigenous beliefs in a variety of good and evil spirits, including the "green ghosts" of the title—ghosts of those who have died violently or before their time. The Paduang were also distinctive because some of their female members stretched their necks by wearing coils of heavy brass rings; they became known as "giraffe women." Some of these women, including Khoo Thwe's grandmothers, had once toured England as circus attractions and served as models for sculptors; when he went to England, he came upon an old poster advertising an exhibition featuring the sculpture of his grandmothers. These grandmothers had also predicted great achievements for Pascal, who describes a pleasant youth and adolescence amid the natural beauty, rich spirituality, and caring community of Phekon. Highly intelligent, with a love of literature and the English language, he left Phekon as a teenager to attend Mandalay University.

At the university, he at first avoided politics; the curriculum was strictly regulated by the government of General Ne Win. He fell in love, though, with a fellow student and prodemocracy activist named Moe, and a series of events led Khoo Thwe to join her cause. Financial crises precipitated by government monetary policies forced him to leave the university and wait tables in a Chinese restaurant, he witnessed the regime's brutality against dissidents, and Moe was abducted and eventually killed by government forces. Khoo Thwe and other activists, facing arrest, conscription into the Burmese army, or possibly death themselves, fled to a rebel camp near the Burma-Thailand border. He managed to get a letter out to John Casey, a professor at Cambridge University's Caius College who had first met Khoo Thwe in the restaurant; they were drawn together by a mutual love for the works of James Joyce. Casey tracked down Khoo Thwe and arranged for him to go to England and study at Cambridge, where he dealt with homesickness, an unfamiliar culture, and memories of the terrors he encountered in Burma. He nevertheless finished his degree and continues to speak out for freedom. But, Time International's Marshall observed, the story does not have a completely happy ending: "As Khoo Thwe sadly (and guiltily) acknowledges, for each miraculous success story like his own there are thousands of bright young Burmese whose futures remain blighted by a repressive regime."

His story and his way of telling it, however, won him praise from numerous critics. "Khoo Thwe's story is a gripping adventure, but there is much more to it," related Crossette in the New York Times Book Review. "Much more" includes his description of his "magical childhood," she explained. Spectator reviewer Caroline Moore called From the Land of Green Ghosts a "luminously vivid and truly remarkable autobiography of an extraordinary young man." She added, "You should buy it for the vividness of its first-hand reporting … but you will actually read it for Pascal himself: he is wonderfully witty, tender, self-aware, wise about his own youthful vanities, yet still deeply vulnerable." A Kirkus Reviews contributor found the book "a distinguished accomplishment that radiates both intelligence and spiritual awareness," while a Publishers Weekly commentator concluded, "It is a heartbreaking tale … told with lyricism, affection and insight."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Khoo Thwe, Pascal, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2002, review of From the Land of Green Ghosts, p. 1373.

New York Times Book Review, December 22, 2002, Barbara Crossette, "The Waiter Who Loved Joyce," p. 26.

Publishers Weekly, October 21, 2002, review of From the Land of Green Ghosts, p. 64.

Spectator, April 27, 2002, Caroline Moore, "Passing Exams the Hardest Way," pp. 38-39.

Time International, June 17, 2002, Andrew Marshall, "Sentimental Education: A Burmese Man's Journey from Jungle, through Love and a Political Crackdown, All the Way to Cambridge," p. 59.*