An English translation of a 2006 interview with Tibetan writer Woeser, conducted by writer Namlo Yak, has been posted on the Tibet Writes blog:
Q: What is your current situation? [Note: The interview was conducted in 2006]
Woeser: A few years ago, in one of my books I wrote: “My writing has become clearer, unequivocal. I will be a witness. I will be looking for, discovering, revealing and spreading a secret, which will be astonishing”. This is the expectation I have.
“Speaking the truth” is a basic requisite for being an author but today, in my situation, I have to pay for it. For example, after I published my essay collection “Tibet Notes”, I was punished in many ways, which directly affected my right to survive, so I had to leave Lhasa to become an independent author outside of that political structure. On the one hand I feel relatively free now not to have to obey any official will, on the other hand, as I have had to leave Lhasa, I feel I have somehow become a refugee; it has made me very sad.
