Background
Choden was born in Bumthang District. At the age of nine, her father sent her to school in India, where she learned English.
(The first attempt of a Bhutanese to record in English the...)
The first attempt of a Bhutanese to record in English the oral traditions of their kingdom has resulted in this collection of thirty-eight folktales and legends. 35 pp. illustrations. All of the stories recounted here were heard by the author when she was a child living in Bumthang, in the central part of Bhutan and are the ones that she passes on in the spirit of the oral tradition. Each story has been aptly illustrated by a Bhutanese artist.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9748495965/?tag=2022091-20
( The first English-language novel ever written by a woma...)
The first English-language novel ever written by a woman from the Himalayan nation of Bhutan, The Circle of Karma has engaged and absorbed readers from around the world since its 2005 publication. Written originally in English, it tells the story of Tsomo, a fifteen-year-old girl caught up in the everyday realities of household life and work. But when her mother dies, Tsomo suddenly feels called to travel and sets off toward a faraway village to light ritual butter lamps in her mother’s memory. Her travels take her to distant places, across Bhutan and into India, evolving into a major life journey. As she faces the world alone, Tsomo slowly begins to find herself, growing as a person and as a woman. Kunzang Choden’s measured, nuanced prose and multilevel narrative weave a complex tapestry of life and its rituals in Bhutan and across South Asia. Newly reissued as part of Zubaan's anniversary celebrating a decade of cutting-edge feminist publishing, this extraordinary novel is poised to be discovered by a broad and enthusiastic new audience.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9381017883/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A1MI9LI/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AACPFUI/?tag=2022091-20
(In I am a Small Person, a despised woman uses her feminin...)
In I am a Small Person, a despised woman uses her femininity as a means to control a man, the young girl in I Won't ask Mother suddenly feels empowered and confident when she makes a decision without consulting her mother. All the stories take place in rural settings, to which creeping urbanisation brings gradual change, and tensions surface between the new and the old, or the traditional and the modern. For many rural women, being able to connect to the city and all its perceived power and glamour is a very real aspiration. This yearning is exemplified in Look at her Belly Button, where a young woman effortlessly slips out of the role of a farmer to become a 'real Bhutanese' urbanite.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/818988462X/?tag=2022091-20
(This is a pioneering book offering insight into Bhutanese...)
This is a pioneering book offering insight into Bhutanese food culture within its historical and geographical context, as well as looking at food-related beliefs and practices. The book discusses the changing socio-cultural meanings of food in Bhutan. Kunzang Choden, from her perspective as a privileged member of the gentry in a feudal society in the 1950s, shares her perceptions, observations and experiences. She highlights the importance of food as a socio-economic signifier and illustrates how food has meaning beyond nourishment, particularly in its symbolic forms in religion and ritual. The author explores regional agricultural and herding practices, the use of wild plants and the resulting food customs and habits. This informative but also deeply personal book includes simple and easy to follow recipes of some typical dishes. It invites readers to try out the unique taste of Bhutanese foods. Color and black and white photographs bring the narratives to life with vivid depictions of Bhutanese food and society.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9744801182/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010EX6X5I/?tag=2022091-20
Choden was born in Bumthang District. At the age of nine, her father sent her to school in India, where she learned English.
University of Delhi.
She is the first Bhutanese woman to write a novel in English. Her parents were feudal landlords. She has a Bachelor Honours in Psychology from Indraprastha College in Delhi and a Bachelor in Sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
She has worked for the United Nations Development Program in Bhutan.
The Circle of Karma, published 2005, is her first novel. lieutenant takes place in the 1950s, the initial period of imperially regulated modernization in Bhutan.
The main character, a Bhutanese woman and road-builder by occupation, is forced to deal both with the traditional, restrictive gender roles of pre-modern Bhutan and the new kinds of sexism developing as men gain economic freedom.
(In I am a Small Person, a despised woman uses her feminin...)
( The first English-language novel ever written by a woma...)
(This is a pioneering book offering insight into Bhutanese...)
(The first attempt of a Bhutanese to record in English the...)
