The author and poet Karen Connelly talks to Joseph Planta about her new memoir, Burmese Lessons: A Love Story (Doubleday, 2009). Amidst the military dictatorship in Burma, Connelly has a love affair with a young revolutionary named Maung, which is discussed, as well as Connelly’s writing process, and prize winning.

Burmese Lessons: A Love Story by Karen Connelly. (Doubleday, 2009) Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Burmese Lessons

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line. This is THECOMMENTARY.CA.

Karen Connelly joins me now. The noted author and poet writes a love story, one that involves herself. In the late 1990s, she is in Burma amidst the student demonstrations against the military junta. She then falls in love with a man who is giving his life to the struggle for political change. The book is called Burmese Lessons: A Love Story. Karen Connelly is the author of nine books, including The Lizard Cage, a book that the New York Times Book Review compared to the works of Solzhenitsyn, Mandela and Orwell. Another book, Touch the Dragon won the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction. This book is published by Random House. The website for more is www.karenconnelly.ca. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in Vancouver, Karen Connelly; Good morning, Ms. Connelly.

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