| Mya Than Tint | |
| Pseudonym: | Mya Than Tint |
| Birth Date: | 23 May 1929 |
| Notableworks: | Dataung Ko Kyaw Ywei, Mee Pinle Ko Hpyat Myi (Across the Mountain of Swords and the Sea of Fire) (1973) |
| Occupation: | novelist, translator |
| Genre: | Romance, Short story, Translation |
| Period: | 1949 - 1998 |
| Spouse: | Khin Ma Ma |
| Awards: | 1972, 1978, 1989, 1993, 1995 : National Literature Award (5 times) |
Mya Than Tint (in Burmese pronounced as /mja̰ θáɰ̃ tɪ̰ɰ̃/; 23 May 1929 – 18 February 1998) was a five-time Myanmar National Literature Award winning Burmese writer and translator.
Born Mya Than on 23 May 1929 in Myaing, Pakokku Township, Magway Division, Myanmar, he was the eldest of seven children to Paw Tint and his wife Hlaing.
Mya Than Tint entered Rangoon University in 1948, the year Burma gained independence from Great Britain, and received a degree in philosophy, political science and English literature in 1954.[1]
His writing career began in 1949 when his first short novel “Refugee” was published in Tara Magazine (No. 21, Vol. 3, 1949). His first translated work was Malva and other short stories by Gorky.He published many short and full-length novels, documentaries and translated works in his 50-year writing career.
Dataung Ko Kyaw Ywei, Mee Pinle Ko Hpyat Myi (Across the Mountain of Swords and the Sea of Fire) (1973) is considered to be his greatest masterpiece. He also wrote historical documentaries like “Breeze over Taungthaman Lake” .
Also a prolific translator of Western literature into Burmese, Mya Than Tint introduced his readers to world classics like War and Peace, Gone with the Wind (လေရူးသုန်သုန်), and Dream of the Red Chamber . He won the Myanmar National Literature Award five times for translation War and Peace(1972), Gone with the Wind (1978), Dream of the Red Chamber (1988), City of Joy (1992) and Beyond Love (1995).
As a political prisoner, Mya Than Tint was jailed from 1963 to 1972 by Ne Win's military regime that seized power from a democratic government in 1962. He was initially incarcerated in Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison, but later transferred with other political prisoners to the Coco Islands penal colony in the Indian Ocean until his release three years later. At the age of 68, he died in his home in Sanchaung Township in Rangoon of a brain hemorrhage after an accidental fall from a staircase in the early morning of February 18, 1998. He was cremated at the Hteinpin cemetery in Rangoon.[2]
Famous Burmese Novels by Mya Than Tint:
His collection of short stories Annyattara Yoke Pon Hlwa (Images of Ordinary People) has been translated in English titled On the Road to Mandalay.
Well Known Works of Translation into Burmese:
| No | Burmese Name | No. of Volumes | Original Novel | Original Author | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sit Nink Nyein Chan Yay | 12 Vols: | War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | 1972 National Literature Award for Best Translation |
| 2 | Lei Yuu Thon Thon | 2 Vols: | Gone with the Wind | Margaret Mitchell | 1978 National Literature Award for Best Translation |
| 3 | Pari Kya Sone Gan | 3 Vols: | The Fall of Paris | Ilya Ehrenburg | |
| 4 | Shwe Pyidaw Hmyaw Daing Way | 8 Vols: | The Far Pavilions | M. M. Kaye | |
| 5 | Lei Lwint Thu | - | The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | |
| 6 | Meinma do Akyawn | 2 Vols: | The Second Sex | Simone de Beauvoir | |
| 7 | Kan Saung Ni Einmet | 9 Vols: | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | 1988 National Literature Award for Best Translation |
| 8 | Thuhka Myodaw | 2 Vols: | City of Joy | Dominique Lapierre | 1992 National Literature Award for Best Translation |
| 9 | A Chit Moe Kaungin | 2 Vols: | Beyond Love | Dominique Lapierre | 1995 National Literature Award for Best Translation |
| 10 | Lwan Maw Khe Ya Thaw Tekkatho Nwei Nya Myar | 3 Vols: | The Class | Erich Segal | |
| 11 | Lu Mya Thekkayit Mya Nink Bawa | 5 Vols: | Ilya Ehrenburg | ||
| 12 | Eikari Pwa Saw | - | She Was a Queen | Maurice Collis | |
| 13 | Chit Thaw Yun Khin Khin | - | the Lacquer Lady | F. Tennyson Jesse | |
| 14 | A-ywe Ma Taing Mi | - | My Childhood | Maxim Gorky | |
| 15 | Bon-Le Ta Khwin | - | My Apprenticeship | Maxim Gorky | |
| 16 | Bawa Tekkatho | - | My Universities | Maxim Gorky | |
| 17 | Lar Chin Kaung Taw Ashin | 2 Vols: | The Lord Comes | Robert Payne | |
| 18 | Asia A-Yone-Oo | - | Pacific Destiny | Robert Elegant | |
Sherlock Holmes series into 5 Volumes -