Another Voice From Burma

Among those on the longlist for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize is Nu Nu Yi, "one of only a handful of writers who dares to paint accurate portraits of life" in Burma. Here's a heartening interview that spotlights the courage of writers living under a regime that curtails so many things that the rest of us take for granted: “Because I hold my beliefs firmly, I have had many difficulties. But I decided to take risks to be a dutiful writer. The biggest difficulty is that there is no freedom to create art. If a writer reveals the feelings and the real lives of people when she writes, that is a political act - even though she is only writing for the benefit of our country.”