Hi, I’m Kyaw Hsan Hlaing. I was born and raised in a small, remote village in Arakan, in western Myanmar. I went to a public high school about five miles from my village, where I lived in a monastery that took in students like me. At eighteen, I went to work in China as an undocumented worker, my first time so far from home.

I left home when I was twenty, and I haven’t had the chance to go back since.

I love traveling and writing. Most of what I write is about my home state: the people I grew up with, the changes they have lived through, and the everyday moments that rarely make the news. Some of these stories found readers in newspapers and magazines, and many of them are now gathered in a book,  Dispatches from Arakan.

These days, I also study and teach politics, still trying to understand the changes I write about. When I’m not writing, I usually read a novel, cook, hike with a camera, or play football and tennis.

For inquiries, please contact kh827@cornell.edu