Tenzin Tsundue is a Tibetan writer and activist, born and raised in India. He studied literature and philosophy at Madras and Bombay university. The award-winning writer has four books to his credit which have been translated into fifteen languages. His writing has inspired movies, books, and plays. Some of them have been anthologised and are being taught as part of the curriculum in universities in India and abroad.
Tsundue combines activism and academia, and tours colleges all over India giving lectures on exile writing, resistance, culture and identity. He conducts workshops in creative writing in English. If his speaking has toured him to 20 foreign countries including Germany, the US and UK, Australia, France, his protest actions have landed him in jail 16 times, including the one in Lhasa, Tibet. He wears a red bandana as a sign of his pledge for life to work for the freedom of Tibet. He is one of the most outspoken voices and activists for cause of Tibet. He lives solely off his writing by selling his self-published books. Presently, he lives in Dharamshala, India.
Published Books ནངNowhere to Call Home, 2023; Tsengol: stories and poems of resistance, 2012; Semshook: essays on Tibetan freedom struggle, 2007; Kora: stories and poems, 2002; Crossing the Border (poetry), 1999.
Other publications Some of his writings have been anthologized in the following publications: Modern English Poetry, SahityaAkademi, Ed. by SudeepSen, 2020; Old Demons and New Deities, edited by Tenzin Dickie, Or Books, USA, 2019; Voices in Exile, Edited by Rajiv Mehrotra, Rupa, 2013; The PEN International, 2001 and 2003
Tsundue in University curriculum Some of his writings are being taught as text in following universities: The University of Madras, Mahatma Gandhi University (Kerala), Sikkim University, Emory University (Atlanta, USA), University of Denver (USA), University of Delhi, Calicut University, Kerala, SIT School for International Training (Kathmandu, Nepal)
Honours and Recognition Picador-Outlook Prize for Non-fiction, 2001 Tsundue has been invited as a guest speaker at: TIMES Lit Fest Delhi 2023, Arunachal Lit Fest 2022, MBIFL 2020, Brahmaputra Lit Fest, Guwahati, 2019; Samanvay Indian Languages Festival, 2015; TATA Lit Fest, Mumbai, 2012; Jaipur Literature Festival, 2010; Sahitya Akademi’s South Asian Literary Conference, 2006; and Poetry Afrika, Durban, 2005.
Education MA Philosophy, University of Mumbai, 1999-2001 MA English Literature, University of Mumbai, 1997-1999 BA English Literature, Loyola College, University of Madras, 1993-1996