About the Contributors

Alai was born in 1959 in a Tibetan district in northwestern Sichuan Province. After graduating from a teachers' college, he taught for five years in a village school. He now lives in Chengdu, where he edits a science-fiction magazine. His publications include a volume of poetry, numerous short stories, and the award-winning novel Chen'ai luoding (The dust settles), to be published in an English translation this year.

Wayne Amtzis is cotranslator of Two Sisters: The Poetry of Benju Sharma and Manju Kanchuli and From The Lake, Love: The Poetry of Banira Giri. His photos of Kathmandu appear in the collection flatLine witness. A book-length series of his poems and photos is forthcoming in Studies in Nepali History and Society.

Govinda Bartaman is a poet, critic, and journalist born in Kathmandu in 1961. He was active in the 1980 Street Poetry Revolution, protesting the Panchayat regime, served as an editor of Utsaha literary magazine in the eighties, and wrote the social-commentary column "Chyan Pratichyan" for Bimarsha newspaper. He now works as a desk editor and reporter at Mulyankan magazine in Kathmandu. His first book of poems is due to be published this year.

Manu Brajaki was born in 1942 and lives on the southern plains of Nepal. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Rimal Samman, the Mainali Katha Puraskar, and the Sajha Puraskar, and has published four short-story collections: Avamulyan, Akashko Phal, Timri Swasni ra Ma, and Bhavisya Yatra.

Sharon May Brown photographed, researched, and wrote about Khmer Rouge atrocities for Columbia University Center for the Study of Human Rights. Her work has appeared in Manoa and International Quarterly and in the books Seeking Shelter: Cambodians in Thailand and The Saving Rain. She recently returned from travelling in Cambodia and Nepal and will be guest-editing an issue of Manoa that will focus on contemporary Cambodian writing.

John Calderazzo teaches creative nonfiction at Colorado State University. His new book is Where the Earth Begins: Volcanoes and Our Inner Lives.

Chen Zeping is a professor of Chinese linguistics at Fujian Teachers' University. He has written numerous articles and books, and he has taught Chinese at Southern Oregon University and Ehime University in Japan.

Linda S. Connor lives in San Anselmo, California, and has taught photography for many years at the San Francisco Art Institute. She travels extensively and has a particular interest in the relationship between culturally sacred sites and the natural world. Her work has been widely exhibited and collected.

Aaron Crippen is the Stella Earnhardt Memorial fellow at the University of Houston. Current and forthcoming work can be found in Renditions, Antigonish Review, and Hanging Loose.

Narayan Dhakal was born in 1953 in Mulpani, near Kathmandu, and is the author of two short-story collections and a novel. Originally an anarchist and follower of the Allen Ginsberg-inspired Hungry Generation movement, Dhakal later became active in the Boot Polish movement, which protested the Panchayat regime, and eventually was elected to the Nepali Parliament. He is the recipient of several literary awards and now works as a commentator and columnist. His story in this issue of Manoa was originally published in Samakalin Sahitya and reprinted in Irfan Ali in 1994.

Fukunaga Takehiko (1918-1979) was born in Fukuoka, Japan. He was the author of several novels, including Kusa no hana, Shi no shima, Bokyaku no kawa, and Kaze no katami.

Karen Gernant is a professor of history at Southern Oregon University. She has translated several stories for Chinese Literature. A book of her translations of folktales was published in 1995 under the title Imagining Women: Fujian Folk Tales.

Linda Gregg is the author of Things and Flesh, her fifth book of poems. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, and Atlantic Monthly, and she has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, Whiting Writer's Award, and National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Born in Marin County, California, she now lives in New York City.

Gu Cheng (1956-1993) was born in Beijing, the son of the poet Gu Gong. In...