An only child born in the last week of November 1957 out of typist dad and middle-school teacher mom in Mandalay.  Studied primary and middle levels in Mandalay, Lawpita and Loikaw in Kyayah state, and Taunggyi in Shan State.

The family moved to Yangon in 1968 and Atta Kyaw (ATK) completed high school in Yangon in 1975.  Attended the then Rangoon Arts & Science University and obtained a Bachelor Degree majoring physics.

Studied law for 2 years and obtained a second degree in law. And also studied French literature for six years and obtained another post-graduate degree from Sorbonne University.

Father was murdered in September 1976 and ATK started running his life as a taxi driver before he was 19.  After graduating from the University, he started teaching English for high school and intermediate levels.  At the same time, practised law until he received advocateship.

In July 1988 he joined the European Union as a translator and left the job in November 1991 for greener pastures.  Starting from December 1991, he worked for the Australian Embassy in Rangoon as an Information Assistant.  After 7 years' service, he was promoted to Information and Research Officer. The Australian government sent him to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Hong Kong for local area network communications trainings and to Australia for Leadership and Development training.

When the embassy officials expressed grave discrimination against Myanmar journalists during Australian Foreign Minister's visit to the country in early October 2001, ATK's journalistic spirit could not bear it and wrote an article about the incident in one of the local journals in Myanmar language.  When the employers found it out, they were really mad at him and consequently fired him in March 2002.

Since then ATK has stubbornly started to run his life on his very own, devoting much of his time to writing.

His writing career started as early as 1967 when his first poem was published in a school's billboard publication.  His first printed material was carried by the 1975-76 Annual Magazine of the Rangoon Arts and Science University.   However he started contributing as a freelancer to local weeklies only in April 1988.

His first book "the Art of Parenting" was published by Sarpay Lawka Books in November 1997.  The second book "the Art of Thinking" was published by the same house a year later.  In January 2000, he started calling himself Atta Kyaw for various reasons and having been using it as his pseudonym since then.  In 2002 September, he founded the Lettwè Baw Books and published the third one "Livable Life, Clear Conscious and A Peaceful Mind."  By the time he was sacked from the embassy his publishing house had been running well with three books already published.

He is now contributing to four monthlies regularly and occasionally to other periodicals in addition to publishing his own books, and living in Yangon, Myanmar, with his wife and two teen-age children.

Want to write to ATK?

CLICK HERE!!!

Personal reply GUARANTEED.