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Khin Hnin Yu

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Khin Hnin Yu
ခင်နှင်းယု
BornKhin Su
(1925-09-07)7 September 1925
Wakema, Wakema Township, British Burma
Died21 January 2003(2003-01-21) (aged 77)
Yangon, Myanmar
Occupationwriter
Period1952–2003
GenreRomance, short story
Notable worksHmwe (1959); Mya Kyar Phyu (1995)
Notable awardsMyanmar National Literature Award (1961, 1995)
SpouseKyaw Thaung (1950–1970)
RelativesU Nu (cousin)

Khin Hnin Yu (ခင်နှင်းယု, pronounced [kʰɪ̀ɰ̃ n̥ɪ́ɰ̃ jṵ]; 7 September 1925 – 21 January 2003) was a two-time Myanmar National Literature Award winner. She is considered one of the most influential Burmese women writers.[1] Her stories are known for their realistic portrayal of life in post-World War II Burma (now Myanmar). She is an early member of Distinguished women writers, who represent an ever-present force in Burmese literary history, along with Kyi Aye and San San Nweh. Almost all her over 50 published novels involve young heroines who had to struggle for their survival.[1]

Khin Hnin Yu was a cousin of, and the personal secretary for, the former Burmese Prime Minister U Nu for more than 20 years. Khin Hnin Yu attended Myoma High School in Yangon.[1] She died in 2003 at the age of 78.[2]

Biography

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Khin Hnin Yu was born Khin Su (ခင်စု), the fifth of seven children, to Daw Thein Tin and school teacher U Ba in Wakema in the Irrawaddy delta. A cousin of U Nu, she served as the former Prime Minister's personal secretary for more than 20 years. She married Kyaw Thaung, a colonel in the Burmese army, in 1950.

Her first short story "Ayaing" ("The Wild") was published in Sar Padaytha magazine in 1947. In 1950, her first novel, Nwe Naung Ywet Kyan (နွေနှောင်းရွက်ကျန်; Remnant Leaf of Late Summer), was published in Shumawa magazine. She wrote over 50 novels and most are known for her political views of the parliamentary and military socialist eras (1948-1980s). For example, her 1955 short story "Mhyawlint Lo Phyint Ma Sohn Naing De" ("Still Hoping") covers the social stigma still faced by a daughter of former pagoda slaves.[3] A semi-biographical novel Kyunma Chit Thu (ကျွန်မချစ်သူ; My Lover) was banned by Gen. Ne Win's government, and the themes of her later books shifted to focus on religion.[1]

Khin Hnin Yu died in Yangon on 21 January 2003 at the Yangon General Hospital.[4]

Works

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Khin Hnin Yu wrote over 50 novels and about six volumes of short-stories collections. Her famous works include:

Year Book Title Burmese English Meaning Notes
1953 Saung Twin Pan ဆောင်းတွင်းပန်း Winter's Flower
1959 Hmwe မွှေး Sweet Scent Semi-biographical; regarded as her masterpiece

one of the most-printed Myanmar novels. 12 th time printed

1960 Sein Thint Mha Sein စိမ်းသင့်မှစိမ်း Leave Me If You Should
1960 Kyemon Yeik Thwin Wuttu-to Myar ကြေးမုံရိပ်သွင် ဝတ္ထုတိုများ Mirror Image-Like Short Stories Winner : Myanmar National Literature Award for Collected Short Stories
1961 Ngwe Naung Ywet Kyan နွေနှောင်းရွက်ကျန် Remnant Leaf of Late Summer
1961 Pan Myar Ko Pwint Say Thu ပန်းများကိုပွင့်စေသူ Person who can Bloom Flowers
1962 Pan Pan Lhwet Par ပန်းပန်လျက်ပါ Still Wearing Flower
1962 Tha Khwet Pan သခွတ်ပန်း Thakhut Flower
1962 Aung Myin Tgaw Ngae အောင်မြင်သောနေ့ Victorious Day
1963 Moe Kyaw Thu မိုးကျော်သူ Moe Kyaw Thu
1964 Tharahpu သရဖူ Crown
1965 La Min Kyi Thar San Par လမင်းကြီးသာစမ်းပါ Please shine brightly, dear Moon
1972 Kyunma Chit Thu ကျွန်မချစ်သူ My Lover
1995 Mya Kyar Phyu မြကြာဖြူ White Lotus Winner : Myanmar National Literature Award for Fiction
1998 Banya Shein ဗညားရှိန်း Banya Shein
2003 Ziwa Soe San Ein ဇီဝစိုးစံအိမ် Cave Swiftlet's Net Collection of author's articles after her death.
Book cover of Khin Hnin Yu's Mya Kyar Phyu (1995) features the struggle of a woman neglected by her husband, which earned the author her second National Literature Award

Most of her novels are adapted into the famous films. Her novella Pan Pan Lhwet Par (Still Wearing Flower) was made into film of the same name in 1963, starring Kawleikgyin Ne Win, Myat Lay and Kyi Kyi Htay. It was very successful, running over 25 weeks and become highest-grossing film in history of Myanmar Cinema.

Awards

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Khin Hnin Yu won top Myanmar National Literature Award twice.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d U Thaung (Aung Bala) (1981). "Contemporary Burmese Literature". Contributions to Asian Studies. 16: 81–99.
  2. ^ "VOA Myanmar". A Tribute To Renowned Author Khin Hnin Yu. Retrieved 25 January 2003.
  3. ^ Thaw Kaung. "Myanmar Short Stories (Part 1)". Retrieved 25 August 2008.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Ziwa Soe San Eing in Burmese inc. Yangon: Seikku Cho Cho Books. 2003. pp. 3–5.