“Reading Burma” in Pictures

An international cast of writers celebrated the work of persecuted Burmese authors last night at Cooper Union. The audience included exiled monks, United Nations dignitaries, and scores of readers–raising $13,500 for Burmese charities.

The “Reading Burma: A Benefit for Cyclone Relief and Freedom of Expression in Burma/Myanmar” line-up included authors Kiran Desai, Siri Hustvedt, and Joseph Lelyveld. All the readers focused on Burma’s dark, strange contradictions: how governmental “scrutiny board” censored six out of nine articles in a national newspaper (axing articles about protests but keeping a fluffy profile of J. K. Rowling); or how an official dispatch urged starving citizens to eat frogs.

In that first picture, New Yorker writer George Packer and the Venerable U Gawsita discussed the violently suppressed uprising in Burma last year. Packer recently wrote a fascinating article about Burma for the New Yorker.

Here Orhan Pamuk reads from a story by Burmese author, Ma Thida. Behind him, the screen is filled with pictures of writers exiled, imprisoned, or persecuted by the Burmese government.

Here Salman Rushdie reads from the poetry of Burmese poet Tin Moe, who passed away last year while exiled from his home.

The night concluded with a blessing from a group of Burmese monks.

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