Experience the power of words as a tool for cultural preservation & social change.
Join us as the leading Tibetan poet and activist Bhuchung D. Sonam shares insights on poetry, resistance, and the Tibetan experience.
Bhuchung D. Sonam is a Tibetan poet, translator, and publisher born in Tibet and currently living in exile in India (learn more about him in this New York Times profile from last year). His books include Songs from Dewachen and Yak Horns: Notes on Contemporary Tibetan Writing, Music and Film & Politics.
He has edited Muses in Exile: An Anthology of Tibetan Poetry and compiled and translated Burning the Sun’s Braids: New Poetry from Tibet. His writings have gained international recognition, appearing in the Washington Post, Asahi Weekly, Journal of Indian Literature, HIMAL Southasian, and Hindustan Times.
As a founding member of TibetWrites, a press and online platform for Tibetan writing, and its imprint Blackneck Books, which has published over 50 Tibetan creative works, Sonam has played a pivotal role in promoting and preserving Tibetan literature.
In 2022, he received the Ostana Prize, which recognizes writers who help preserve literature in minority languages.
Through his work as a writer, translator, and publisher, Sonam has significantly contributed to making Tibetan literature more accessible to a global audience while fostering a sense of cultural identity and brotherhood among Tibetans. His efforts continue to shape perceptions of Tibetan writers and Tibet itself, underlining the importance of preserving and sharing Tibetan literary voices in the contemporary world.
Bhuchung D. Sonam will be in conversation with Ishani Dasgupta, Assistant Instructional Professor, Pozen Family Center for Human Rights. Her research is based on fieldwork among Tibetan refugee settlements and communities in India, where she collaborated closely with grassroots political organizations and studied their culture of resistance.
- Center for East Asian Studies
- Committee on Southern Asian Studies
- Pozen Family Center for Human Rights
Below are links to writing by and about Bhuchung D. Sonam:
An Exiled Publisher Creates a ‘Brotherhood Across Tibetans’, New York Times
Opinion | Who will be the Dalai Lama’s successor? China won’t have a say, Washington Post
Bhuchung D Sonam - “Human experience is as deep as it is vast”, Hindustan Times
A collection of Bhuchung D. Sonam's articles, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review