San San Nweh was born on in August 1945 in
Tharrawaddy,
Burma (now Myanmar). One of the first Burmese women to complete journalism training, San San Nweh was editor of two journals--
Gita Padetha and
Einmet-Hpu. Since 1974 she has published a dozen novels, over 500 short stories and about 100 poems. Her books include
Alone in the Wind and the Rain,
Only a Folding Umbrella, and
Prison of Darkness. On 6 October 1994, San San Nweh was arrested, together with her daughter, and found guilty of "publishing information harmful to the state" with a view to "fomenting disorder". She was sentenced to seven years in jail, the maximum provided by the emergency law, and then to a further three years for "giving biased viewpoints" to French journalists in April 1993. She was also accused of "providing information about the human rights situation to the United Nations' Special Rapporteur for Burma". San San Nweh suffered various health problems during her time in prison. After serving seven years of her ten-year prison sentence, San San Nweh was released in July 2001 from
Insein Prison,
Yangon but has not been allowed to leave Myanmar. San San Nweh has won numerous awards for her work, including a
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award in 1995 and a
Reporters Without Borders-
Fondation de France Prize in 1999. In 2001, she and
Win Tin were jointly awarded the
World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award. ==References==