# Khin Hnin Yu

Khin Hnin Yu (ခင်နှင်းယု, pronounced; 7 September 1925 – 21 January 2003) was a two-time Myanmar National Literature Award winner. She is considered one of the most influential Burmese women writers. Her stories are known for their realistic portrayal of life in post-World War II Burma (now Myanmar). She is an early member of Distinguished women writers, who represent an ever-present force in Burmese literary history, along with Kyi Aye and San San Nweh. Almost all her over 50 published novels involve young heroines who had to struggle for their survival.
Khin Hnin Yu was a cousin of, and the personal secretary for, the former Burmese Prime Minister U Nu for more than 20 years. Khin Hnin Yu attended Myoma High School in Yangon. She died in 2003 at the age of 78.

## Biography

Khin Hnin Yu was born Khin Su (ခင်စု), the fifth of seven children, to Daw Thein Tin and school teacher U Ba in Wakema in the Irrawaddy delta. A cousin of U Nu, she served as the former Prime Minister's personal secretary for more than 20 years. She married Kyaw Thaung, a colonel in the Burmese army, in 1950.
Her first short story "Ayaing" ("The Wild") was published in Sar Padaytha magazine in 1947. In 1950, her first novel, Nwe Naung Ywet Kyan (နွေနှောင်းရွက်ကျန်; Remnant Leaf of Late Summer), was published in Shumawa magazine. She wrote over 50 novels and most are known for her political views of the parliamentary and military socialist eras (1948-1980s). For example, her 1955 short story "Mhyawlint Lo Phyint Ma Sohn Naing De" ("Still Hoping") covers the social stigma still faced by a daughter of former pagoda slaves. A semi-biographical novel Kyunma Chit Thu (ကျွန်မချစ်သူ; My Lover) was banned by Gen. Ne Win's government, and the themes of her later books shifted to focus on religion.
Khin Hnin Yu died in Yangon on 21 January 2003 at the Yangon General Hospital.

## Works

Khin Hnin Yu wrote over 50 novels and about six volumes of short-stories collections. Her famous works include:
| Year | Book Title | Burmese | English Meaning | Notes |
| 1953 | Saung Twin Pan | ဆောင်းတွင်းပန်း | Winter's Flower | |
| 1959 | Hmwe | မွှေး | Sweet Scent | Semi-biographical; regarded as her masterpiece one of the most-printed Myanmar novels. 12 th time printed |
| 1960 | Sein Thint Mha Sein | စိမ်းသင့်မှစိမ်း | Leave Me If You Should | |
| 1960 | Kyemon Yeik Thwin Wuttu-to Myar | ကြေးမုံရိပ်သွင် ဝတ္ထုတိုများ | Mirror Image-Like Short Stories | Winner : Myanmar National Literature Award for Collected Short Stories |
| 1961 | Ngwe Naung Ywet Kyan | နွေနှောင်းရွက်ကျန် | Remnant Leaf of Late Summer | |
| 1961 | Pan Myar Ko Pwint Say Thu | ပန်းများကိုပွင့်စေသူ | Person who can Bloom Flowers | |
| 1962 | Pan Pan Lhwet Par | ပန်းပန်လျက်ပါ | Still Wearing Flower | |
| 1962 | Tha Khwet Pan | သခွတ်ပန်း | Thakhut Flower | |
| 1962 | Aung Myin Tgaw Ngae | အောင်မြင်သောနေ့ | Victorious Day | |
| 1963 | Moe Kyaw Thu | မိုးကျော်သူ | Moe Kyaw Thu | |
| 1964 | Tharahpu | သရဖူ | Crown | |
| 1965 | La Min Kyi Thar San Par | လမင်းကြီးသာစမ်းပါ | Please shine brightly, dear Moon | |
| 1972 | Kyunma Chit Thu | ကျွန်မချစ်သူ | My Lover | |
| 1995 | Mya Kyar Phyu | မြကြာဖြူ | White Lotus | Winner : Myanmar National Literature Award for Fiction |
| 1998 | Banya Shein | ဗညားရှိန်း | Banya Shein | |
| 2003 | Ziwa Soe San Ein | ဇီဝစိုးစံအိမ် | Cave Swiftlet's Net | Collection of author's articles after her death. |
Most of her novels are adapted into the famous films. Her novella Pan Pan Lhwet Par (Still Wearing Flower) was made into film of the same name in 1963, starring Kawleikgyin Ne Win, Myat Lay and Kyi Kyi Htay. It was very successful, running over 25 weeks and become highest-grossing film in history of Myanmar Cinema.

## Awards

Khin Hnin Yu won top Myanmar National Literature Award twice.
* 1953: Popular Reader Choice (Myawaddy Magazine), Tharahpu
* 1961: Myanmar National Literature Award for Collected Short Stories, Kyemon Yeik-Thwin Wuttu-to Myar
* 1995: Myanmar National Literature Award for Fiction,Mya Kyar Phyu