Writers

As a member of the privileged elite, she was later admitted to a Chinese literature
program for minority nationalities.

It was only when she moved back to Lhasa as a young woman, where she worked as an editor for the leading Tibetan literary magazine, that she began to discover the reality of Tibet's past and to learn about Tibetan Buddhism.

This coincided with the death of her father, who had been a deputy commander in the army, and the realization that he had secretly been a Buddhist.

While in Lhasa, Woeser (who, like many Tibetans, is known by just one name)
began to document the effects of religious repression, massive immigration of
Chinese and unbalanced economic development.

In 2004, after her book 'Notes on Tibet' was banned, she was informed that all her working hours would be devoted to political re-education. She moved to Beijing, and she later married Wang Lixiong, an author and commentator on Tibet who has been outspoken in his support for human rights and his willingness to take seriously the needs and concerns of Tibetans.

Woeser has published almost daily updates and comments online since March, when an overwhelmingly peaceful uprising across the Tibetan plateau transformed the political landscape. At the height of the protests, more than 3million internet users visited Woeser's blog, and her daily updates were translated into numerous languages.

The personal stories she includes in her writing - the blind monk who committed suicide, the lama who was beaten when he tried to prevent a protest from escalating - bring home to the outside world the reality of the current crackdown in Tibet and its deeper significance.
Professor Tsering Shakya, an expert in contemporary Tibetan writing, compares
Woeser's situation to that of the late Russian dissident writer, Solzhenitsyn, saying:
"It is the duty of courageous writers to speak of the unspeakable and lift the veil
from the dark corners where horror is hidden...The events of March 2008 created a
new memory and it will be narrated from generation to generation. Today, memory
is no longer hidden...but advertised in cyberspace to share with the rest of the world
- and in this respect Woeser occupies a unique position as chronicler of modern
Tibetan memory. Her blog [and writings] have become the voice of Tibet."

New translations of Woeser's work are published by the Ragged Banner

Kate Saunders works for savetibet.org

Read a useful NY Times profile of Woeser here