Writing Sacred Lhasa

Join Natasha Kimmet, exhibition curator of Monumental Lhasa, and Tashi Chodron, Assistant Manager of Himalayan Cultural Programs, for a tour of the exhibition, followed by a literary reading in the sixth floor gallery.

Tsering Lama, Sonam Tsomo and Tenzin Dickie, three rising contemporary female writers based in New York will read their work in Tibetan and English. After the reading, Robert Barnett, the Director of the Modern Tibet Studies Program at Columbia University, moderates a panel discussion on the rich history of Tibetan literature, making connections between the writers’ own work and the sacred city of Lhasa.

About the Speakers

Tsering Lama’s work has appeared in The Malahat Review, Grain Magazine, Vela Mag, La.Lit, Himal SouthAsian and Brave New Play Rites Anthology. She is also a co-founder of Lhakardiaries, a blog for Tibetan cultural exploration and expression.

Sonam Tsomo is a poet who writes in Tibetan, English and Hindi. She has a degree in creative writing from Miami University and publishes in Khabdha online journal, one of the most popular Tibetan literary sites.

Tenzin Dickie’s writings and translations have appeared in Tibetan Review, Indian Literature, Cultural Anthropology,The Washington Post online, Words Without Borders and Modern Poetry in Translation.She was a 2014-2015 fellow of the American Literary Translators’ Association.

Robert J. Barnett founded and directs the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia, the first Western teaching program in this field. His most recent books are Tibetan Modernities: Notes from the Field, with Ronald Schwartz (Brill, 2008); and Lhasa: Streets with Memories (Columbia, 2006). From 2000 to 2006 he ran the annual summer program for foreign students at Tibet University in Lhasa and taught there. He is a frequent commentator on Tibet and nationality issues in China for the BBC, CNN, NPR, CBS, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and other media. He runs a number of educational projects in Tibet, including training programs in ecotourism and conservation.

Image Credits

Lhasa with the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple, Painted by an unknown Tibetan monk, Commissioned by Major William Edmund Hay (British, 1805-1879), Lahaul (present-day India); ca. 1857, Watercolor on paper, The British Library, Wise Collection, Add.Or.3013, Folios 1 and 2 © The British Library Board