Poet

Maung Yu Py

(Burma, 1981)

Biography

Maung Yu Py was born in 1981 to Dr. Myint Soe and Daw Yee Yee Mar in Myeik, a significant port town known historically as Mergui situated on the coast of an island on the Andaman Sea in the extreme south of Burma. In fourth grade, he represented the children of his region at the Asia-Pacific Children’s Convention in Fukuoka, Japan. He earned a degree in law in 2006. Since his 2000 debut The Bird that was Killed when the Sky Capsized, he has published two collections: There is a New Map for that Little Island Town Too (2007) and With the Big Television Turned On (2009).

Still based in Myeik, Maung Yu Py also writes in local Tavoy, a Burmese dialect of the region, and is active online. He is widely recognised for his wry poems, witty essays and articles published on the Internet. In his ‘A Real Poem,’ Maung Yu Py whines, “Only those backed up by strongboxes/ May make love after love after love/ As for me, I’m with a tokenistic girlfriend.”

Link

Maung Yu Py’s homepage (in Burmese)