Aung San Suu Kyi

POLITICIAN • PRISONER • PARENT
A portrait of one of the most charismatic, but unknown, world leaders

Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and crusader for democracy
in Myanmar, is once again behind bars. Her resounding victory at the polls, and re-election to office as civilian head of state, were overturned by the February 2021 military coup – a move with ruinous consequences.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been here before. The first half of her political career was spent under house arrest. But this time she has been disappeared into prison in Naypyidaw, following an array of charges clearly calculated to keep her out of politics and out of sight for the rest of her life. This time she is caught in a zero-sum game.
Once deified by the international community for her advocacy of democracy and human rights, yet later vilified for her denial of the Burmese military’s genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, Aung San Suu Kyi’s image survives largely untarnished within Myanmar. Her supporters refer to her as ‘Amay Suu’ (Mother Suu). Heir to the political and spiritual legacy of her father, General Aung San, independence hero and martyr, she remains the lodestar of nationalist aspirations, and matriarch for a nation in distress.
This book tracks Aung San Suu Kyi’s transformation from daughter of a national hero to materfamilias of Myanmar, placing her firmly within the context of the Burmese Buddhist notions of nationhood and motherhood and explaining her continuing role as the figurehead of the nation’s struggles. The result is a unique portrait of a living legend, rendered by a compatriot and contemporary, the novelist Wendy Law-Yone.

POLITICIAN
Decades spent spearheading the fight for democracy in Myanmar – following her father Aung San’s legacy as founder of the modern Burmese nation.
PRISONER
Having already spent half
her political career under house arrest, in December 2022, Aung San Suu Kyi
was sentenced to 33 years
in prison.
PARENT
To her exiled family and
a nation.

Reviews

Praise for Wendy Law-Yone’s Golden Parasol

Gorgeous: vivid, precise and awash in remembered sunlight ― Independent on Sunday

Sad, extraordinary and inspiring ― Wanderlust

Captivating ― Asian Review of Books

Magnificent… Delivers a riveting experience ― South China Morning Post

Beautifully written with a keen sense of humour, the book is bound to be a classic ― Asia Times

About the author

Wendy Law-Yone short stories have appeared in Grand Street and literary anthologies, and her book reviews and articles in The TLS, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and Architectural Digest.
Irrawaddy Tango was nominated for the 1994 Irish Times International Fiction Prize. The Road to Wanting was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize. Born in Mandalay, Burma, Wendy grew up in Rangoon. Her father, E.M. Law-Yone, was founder and publisher of The Nation, the leading English language daily in post-war Burma. A political prisoner under the military dictatorship of General Ne Win, Law-Yone spent the last years of his life in exile. After leaving Burma at the age of 20, Wendy spent several years in Southeast Asia before moving to the United States in the mid-1970's.