Last month Tilted Axis launched post-modern Thai story collection The Sad Part Was to highly receptive audiences. Prabda Yoon and Mui Poopoksakul flew in to kick start the tour at a packed Asia House event. Guests sipped on Thai cocktails whilst SOAS’ Rebecca Harrison explained how Prabda’s cosmopolitan writing style has transformed the Thai lit scene. Mui (who won a PEN Award for her translation) spoke about the importance of staying away from literal, didactic translations and instead capturing the essence or humour behind the work.

Getting things started at Asia House

Prabda signing books and sipping cocktails!

Not ones to let the cocktails get to our heads, we headed to the Poetry Translation Centre the following day for another evening talking all things translation and Thai fiction.

Getting serious at SOAS

Our London tour ended on a high with a launch at SOAS. It was a memorable night for all involved and we feel immensely proud to have launched the UK's first ever translation of Thai fiction - and to such wonderful crowds. In fact we felt so overwhelmed that we decided to take the party to Berlin for more readings and discussion on Buddhist vampires, harassed ad-men, and other characters from this larger-than-life collection which you can check out here!