Khamsing Srinawk

Khamsing Srinawk (Thai: คำสิงห์ ศรีนอก; rtgs: Khamsing Sinok) is a writer from the Isan region of Thailand. He writes under the pen-name Law khamhɔ̌ɔm (Thai: ลาว คำหอม). He was named a National Artist in Literature in 1992 and is best known for his satirical short stories published in his 1958 collection Fáa Bɔ̀ Kân (Thai: ฟ้าบ่กั้น) [The Sky is No Barrier]. Benedict Anderson argues that Khamsing is the best known short-story writer in the Kingdom of Thailand.

Born December 25, 1930 in Bua Yày (Thai: บัวใหญ่) District of Thailand's northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province, Khamsing was raised on a farm in the countryside. Khamsing read heavily during his childhood and was encouraged in his studies by his uncle, a Buddhist monk, and other members of his family. He was the sixth of seven children by his parents Suay and Kham Srinawk. After completing schooling in the local Bua Yày government school, he traveled to Bangkok and simultaneously enrolled in the faculty of Journalism at Chulalongkorn University and the faculty of Economics at Thammasat University. Unable to afford room and board, Khamsing lived in a Buddhist temple in Bangkok while attending night classes and working part-time as a journalist until he was overcome with illness and forced to drop out of school. As a journalist he served as a political reporter and feature writer. He saw journalism as a way to improve society. The first paper he worked for was Naew Na. Newspapers were Khamsing's entry to the literary world of Bangkok and he would use these connections to begin publishing his work. His personal farm in Pak Chong district, Khorat became a refuge in times of crisis or government suppression of intellectuals especially in the late 1950s and on his return from exile in the early 1980s. The farm produced corn, cotton, and milk using "modern" methods. It also may have added a mystique to Khamsing's persona as one who could seemingly shift between country-side and urban contexts seamlessly. More importantly, his farm in later years became a place for young writers to come and learn the craft. From Bangkok, Khamsing took a job with the state forestry service, working in the far north as a forest ranger for three years (1953–1956). Herbert Phillips, who personally knew Khamsing, said that it was a time when the author "thrived – psychologically, physically, and as a reader and writer." On his return to Bangkok, he worked for a Cornell anthropology research project with Phillips and others. He took odd jobs as a traveling sewing machine salesman. He even briefly opened his own publishing house named Kwian Thong (Golden Oxcart).

...
Wikipedia