Letters From Burma

Letters from Burma - an unforgettable collection from the Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi 
 
In these astonishing letters, Aung San Suu Kyi reaches out beyond Burma's borders to paint for her readers a vivid and poignant picture of her native land. 
 
Here she celebrates the courageous army officers, academics, actors and everyday people who have supported the National League for Democracy, often at great risk to their own lives. She reveals the impact of political decisions on the people of Burma, from the terrible cost to the children of imprisoned dissidents - allowed to see their parents for only fifteen minutes every fortnight - to the effect of inflation on the national diet and of state repression on traditions of hospitality. She also evokes the beauty of the country's seasons and scenery, customs and festivities that remain so close to her heart. 
 
Through these remarkable letters, the reader catches a glimpse of exactly what is at stake as Suu Kyi fights on for freedom in Burma, and of the love for her homeland that sustains her non-violent battle. 
 
Includes an introduction from Fergal Keane 
 
'Aung San Suu Kyi has become a global symbol of peaceful resistance, courage and apparently endless endurance' Guardian 
 
'A real hero in an age of phony phone-in celebrity, which hands out that title freely to the most spoiled and underqualified' Bono, Time 
 
Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma's National League for Democracy. She was placed under house arrest in Rangoon in 1989, where she remained for almost 15 of the 21 years until her release in 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners. She is also the author of the collection of writings Freedom from Fear.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader Burma's National League for Democracy. She was first placed under house arrest in Rangoon in 1989, and in the summer of 2009 her confinement was extended by a further 18 months. 
Her book of essays Freedom from Fear is also published by Penguin.

In these unforgettable letters, Aung San Suu Kyi reaches out beyond Burma's borders to paint for her readers a vivid and poignant picture of her native land. 
 
Here she celebrates the courageous army officers, academics, actors and everyday people who have supported the National League for Democracy, often at great risk to their own lives. She reveals the impact of political decisions on the people of Burma, from the terrible cost to the children of imprisoned dissidents - allowed to see their parents for only fifteen minutes every fortnight - to the effect of inflation on the national diet and of state repression on traditions of hospitality. She also evokes the beauty of the country's seasons and scenery, customs and festivities, that remain so close to her heart. 
 
Through these remarkable letters, the reader catches a glimpse of exactly what is at stake as Suu Kyi fights on for freedom in Burma, and of the love for her homeland that sustains her non-violent battle.

Conversations with Alan Clements

The Voice of Hope

The best collection of wide-ranging interviews with Aung Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and courageous campaigner for democracy and human rights in Burma

[Shows] Aung San Suu Kyi's humour, erudition, wisdom and accessibility, and demonstrate[s] why she has become a world spiritual leader

I am delighted that The Voice of Hope is being republished. This is a message that the world should hear

This is a remarkable book, as inspired as it is wise.  Read it and learn from Aung San Suu Kyi's amazing life

Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

Suu Kyi is one of the most remarkable and brave women of our time. Her dying husband  Michael was refused permission to go to visit her. Even the phone calls I used to have with her have been stopped for some years.  The regime in Burma is an outrage, and it is a blot on the international community that we have done so little about it.  This book is testimony to the staunch commitment and sacrifice of an astonishingly courageous and visionary person

The Rt Hon the Lord David Steel of Aikwood KT

Aung San Suu Kyi's struggle for freedom is Burma's struggle for freedom. If you read this important book you'll understand why

Aung San Suu Kyi is a remarkable and courageous human being. Listen to her voice and be inspired...Burma is the next South Africa

This remarkable testiment offers unprecedented insight into the heart and mind of one of the world’s most courageous and inspiring leaders

Born in 1945 and educated at Oxford University, Aung San Suu Kyi married Dr Michael Aris and brought up their children in Oxford. In 1988 she returned to Burma to care for her dying mother but was caught in a national revolt against political repression. She became the leader of the reform movement. After many years of house arrest, she has become a member of the Burmese Parliament and continues to work towards the freedom and modernization of her country. 
 
Alan Clements is a journalist, writer and human rights activist. He lived in Burma for many years in the 70s and 80s, nearly 5 years as a monk. He is the co-founder and director of the Burma Project USA/Canada, as well as a political satirist, performing his theatrical monologue to audiences around the world.

Aung San Suu Kyi is known for her courageous stand for democracy and human rights inside Burma (now Myanmar). Forced to endure many years of house arrest by the military junta, she continues to act as a focus for change inside the country now that she is free. Such is her determined action for the best interests of Burma that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. 
 
One of the very few people she has trusted enough to take her message to the wider world is Alan Clements. The Voice of Hope offers unquestionably the most wide-ranging collection of her views on the political situation inside Burma, her non-violent approach to democracy and human rights, her Buddhist beliefs, her family, and how she keeps a sense of meaning and purpose under the most difficult conditions.

Aung San Suu Kyi

This book is bound to become a classic for a new generation of Asians who value democracy even more highly than Westerners do, simply because they are deprived of the basic freedoms that Westerners take for granted

Aung San Suu Kyi's extraordinary achievement has been to confront the regime peacefully, reasonably and persuasively... [in] one of the most laudable continuing acts of political courage

Such is the depth of passion and learning that she brings to her writings about national identity and its links with culture and language that she has attracted the admiration of intellectuals around the world

And Other Writings

Aung San Suu Kyi's collected writings - edited by her late husband, whom the ruling military junta prevented from visiting Burma as he was dying of cancer - reflects her greatest hopes and fears for her fellow Burmese people, and her concern about the need for international co-operation in the continuing fight for Burma's freedom. Bringing together her most powerful speeches, letters and interviews, this remarkable collection gives a voice to Burma's 'woman of destiny', whose fate remains in the hands of her enemies. 
 
Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and leader of Burma's National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the world's greatest living defenders of freedom and democracy, and an inspiration to millions worldwide.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Praise for Freedom from Fear

This book is bound to become a classic for a new generation of Asians who value democracy even more highly than Westerners do, simply because they are deprived of the basic freedoms that Westerners take for granted

Aung San Suu Kyi's extraordinary achievement has been to confront the regime peacefully, reasonably and persuasively... [in] one of the most laudable continuing acts of political courage

Such is the depth of passion and learning that she brings to her writings about national identity and its links with culture and language that she has attracted the admiration of intellectuals around the world

This book is bound to become a classic for a new generation of Asians who value democracy even more highly than Westerners do, simply because they are deprived of the basic freedoms that Westerners take for granted

Aung San Suu Kyi's extraordinary achievement has been to confront the regime peacefully, reasonably and persuasively... [in] one of the most laudable continuing acts of political courage

Such is the depth of passion and learning that she brings to her writings about national identity and its links with culture and language that she has attracted the admiration of intellectuals around the world

This book is bound to become a classic for a new generation of Asians who value democracy even more highly than Westerners do, simply because they are deprived of the basic freedoms that Westerners take for granted

Aung San Suu Kyi's extraordinary achievement has been to confront the regime peacefully, reasonably and persuasively... [in] one of the most laudable continuing acts of political courage

Such is the depth of passion and learning that she brings to her writings about national identity and its links with culture and language that she has attracted the admiration of intellectuals around the world

Books by Aung San Suu Kyi

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter