Biography
I’m Myint Myat Thu. I specialize in creative writing, in-depth analysis, and commentary for cultural journalism.
Being a writer and arts journalist is, as I have tested it, an exciting and challenging choice. Just the fact that I am a Myanmar woman makes it all the more so.
When all the media were giving hysterical coverages on a cigar that the Myanmar film censorship board snatched away from the hand of a femme fatale, Mi – the lead character of the film of the same name – by covering the cigar part of the film poster with a no-smoking sticker, I was plugging away at a long read to highlight how this beautiful adaptation of a classic novel could reflect the whole history of the dearth of good screenwriters in Myanmar and the role the censorship played in it. When there were merely event news of the debut sale of the pioneering art auction company in Myanmar, I went to great lengths to observe all days of the event throughout and came up with an insightful story about the emerging art auction scene in Myanmar. This is me.
I live a life elsewhere. Away from the desire of getting and giving fleeting attention, I have found a deep and non-temporal life where I can develop a profound understanding of our society through my writings which are in-depth, research-driven and crafted after hours of thoughtful conversations with insiders from the Myanmar arts and film community. The privilege here is I do not need to wait until, for example, a celebrity comes out with a scandalous music video to treat my profession seriously, but can approach the political, social and cultural aspects of the country in very creative ways that politics itself and political journalism cannot. I can also be poetic, analytical, funny, sarcastic, irony, intellectual, critical, imaginative, realistic, and many more simultaneously if I wish to. The whole thing is just truly fulfilling.
Word by word, this meaningful life renews itself, expands and becomes stronger. I live a life elsewhere.
Lifetime gratitude
I learn a lot from many imaginative, impressive writers from The Guardian. Their works not only inspire but also empower me in many occasions.
And there is Amie Dodd, my teacher-best-friend, whose unwavering support to my writing career I will always remember in my life.
Mystery of my life
I just tried to become a deep-sea fish. But I became both a deep-sea fish and a writer.
My works appeared on
The Myanmar Times (English Edition)
The Irrawaddy (English Edition)
ASEF culture360 (Asia and Europe Foundation)
Aura Contemporary Art Foundation
3-ACT Cinema Magazine (Myanmar-English Binlingual)
