Tew BunnagTew Bunnag was born in Bangkok in 1947, and educated in the UK where he studied Chinese and Economics at Cambridge University. He has been a teacher of t'ai chi and a lay teacher of Buddhist meditation since 1975, and has given courss in England, Spain, France, Switzerland, Greece and the US. In Spain, where he lives most of the year, he also contributes to the Palliative Care Movement, running workshops on issues concerning Death and Dying, and he is the current president of the Asociación Vinyana.
In Bangkok he works in Klongtoey, the biggest slum situated in the port area of Bangkok where he is one of the directors of an NGO that helps street children, and adults and children who are HIV positive (The Human Development Foundation, Mercy Centre). The funds that he helps to raise in Europe go to these projects.
His fiction works in English include Fragile Days, After the Wave, The Naga's Journey, Curtain of Rain, and three published short stories (A Most Generous Uncle for the Asia Literary Review, The Mistress Wants her Freedom, for the Bangkok Noir collection, and Eyes of Karma for the Asia Literary Review). All deal with the contradictions and anomalies thrown up by the confrontation of traditional values and the modern aggressive materialism that has become a feature of Asian society. He writes both as an insider and an observer using his ability to slip in and out of the different strata of Thai society that are usually inaccessible to both Thai and foreign outsiders.
His work has been serialized in Thai magazines and translated into Spanish and Greek. The Naga's Journey and Curtain of Rain have been translated into Italian.
He is married to a British artist, has three children and five grandchildren. His eldest daughter lives in Italy with her family. His son is a filmmaker based in Paris and Bangkok and his youngest daughter is a musician. Because of these family commitments he divides his time between Europe and Thailand. Read More Read Less