Writer visits Nobel winner By Tina Soong New Orleans writer Whitney Stewart recently visited Burma where she interviewed Aung San Suu Kyi,the leader of Burma's democracy movement who was set free last year after six years under house arrest. Stewart, who writes for children and young adults, is writing a biography of Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the National League of Democracy in Burma. This is Stewart’s third book for the "Newsmakers" biography series of Lerner Publications. She launched the series with a biography of the 14ttl Dalai Lama. "I write for the promotion of peace and intercultural tolerance, and understanding," she said. She chose to write about the Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner, for "his practice of nonviolence, his humane approach to world peace and his message of kindness, compassion and hope." The second book in the series is a biography of Sir Edmund Hillary. In 1953, Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa guide, became the first two people to reach the top of Mount Everest. "Hillary took good care of the Sherpa people, the Tibetan people living on the high slope of the Himalayas. His compassion and kindness also have impressed me," Stewart said. For the third biography in the series, Stewart chose to write about Suu Kyi. A military council seized power in Burma in 1988. Suu Kyi was put under house arrest by the council in 1988 for leading pro-democracy rallies. She was set free in July. The council said it will hand over power to a civilian government once a new constitution has been drawn up. But the military insists on maintaining a leading role.' Work on drafting a constitution has been under way for three years. When the ruling council opened the fifth session of a constitutional convention Nov. 28, Suu Kyi announced that the 81 delegates from the National League of Democracy would boycott the meeting until the council agreed to talk about real reform acceptable to the people of Burma and the international community. She has called for a tripartite dialogue among the country's military, democratic and ethnic leaders to find ways to restore democracy and achieve national reconciliation and ethnic and human rights. Although she and other senior National League of Democracy members could be detained for their views, they plan to continue to promote democracy and peace in Burma. Stewart has visited Asia five times. Stewart, who has a bachelor's degree in children's literature and linguistics, has pursued advanced studies in children's literature at Simmons College in Boston and Tulane University. |
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