Join the editors/translators Fiona Sze-Lorrain and Dechen Pemba, in conversation with Jemimah Steinfeld, for the book launch of Ocean, As Much As Rain: Stories, Lyrical Prose, and Poems from Tibet by Tsering Woeser.

Ocean, as Much as Rain (Duke University Press) presents for the first time in the English-language world a collection of masterfully translated literary writings by Tsering Woeser, a prominent Tibetan writer, poet, and activist, and the author of numerous books of poetry and prose. (Please note that Tsering Woeser will not be present at the book launch.)

In these stories, lyrical essays, and poetry, Woeser interweaves texts, photographs, silences, and documentary details. Featuring a distinctively imaginative use of satire and digressive rhetoric, Woeser’s stories bring to life Tibetan characters whose lives are entwined with politics, history, and religion. Woeser illuminates the ruins and places that she has come across during her various sojourns in Chinese-ruled Tibet, reviving sites from the past of her parents and their generation.

These writings range from ingenious retellings of cultural encounters and confrontation to insightful commentaries on ecological issues and tourism in Tibet that never shun contradictions, dilemmas, or questions about the future. With an introduction by Fiona Sze-Lorrain and an author interview by editors-translators Sze-Lorrain and Dechen Pemba, Ocean, as Much as Rain is a landmark publication that celebrates the work of a steadfast dissident and a leading Tibetan literary figure of our times.

There will be a limited number of books available to purchase at the event; you can also purchase the book online in advance of the event.