Sarpay Beikman
| Predecessor | Burmese Translation Society |
|---|---|
| Formation | 26 August 1947 |
| Type | GO |
| Purpose | Education |
| Headquarters | Yangon |
|
Region served
|
Burma |
Sarpay Beikman (Burmese: စာပေဗိမာန်; literally 'Palace of Literature') originated as the Burmese Translation Society. Its first President was Prime Minister U Nu, who started a Burmese translation job at Judson College (now University of Yangon). The purpose was to translate world culture, literature, education for the Burmese public. In 1963 the society was absorbed into the Ministry of Information's Printing and Publishing Enterprise as the Sarpay Beikman Literature House, and the mandate was extended to encourage local writers and to print and publish books of all types. The society presents the annual Sarpay Beikman Manuscript Awards and Burma National Literature Awards for excellent new unpublished and published writing in various categories.
After independence the Burmese Translation Society decided that independent Burma need a Burmese Encyclopedia and began the project to compile one in May 1948. Initially, they wanted to translate Sir John Hamilton's encyclopedia into 10 volumes. Shortly after this (in 1949), they stopped direct translation and completed the project with Burmese related articles including facts on the arts and sciences. Volume No. 1 was printed in 1954; the last volume (No. 15) was completed and printed in 1976. The first five volumes were printed in England, but after that the society started using its own press in Rangoon, After that, yearly volumes of updates were published.
In 1951, a translation with pictures of a history of the years 1900 to 1950 was printed in the Netherlands. Then in 1957, Lu Htu Thekpan, comprising 30 volumes for science technologies, were initiated for publishing. They helped the Ministry of Education with the publication of text books for schools. The Burmese Translation Society did not only translate books but also encouraged many other forms of Burmese culture and literature activities. The Society established a free library in Rangoon 1956. By 2011 the library had 50,000 book titles in the main section and another 12,000 book titles in the reference section. In March 2011 a branch of the Sarpay Beikman Library was established in Mandalay.
...
Wikipedia