Journal Kyaw Ma Ma Lay

Journal Kyaw Ma Ma Lay (ဂျာနယ်ကျော် မမလေး ) is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest Burmese writers of the 20th century.

Her stories are known for authentic portrayals of modern Burmese society.

Along with Ludu Daw Amar, Ma Ma Lay was one of a few female authors in Burma.

Ma Ma Lay was born Ma Tin Hlaing in Karmaklu Village, Ayeyarwady Division, Myanmar in 1917.

Her literary career began in 1936 when her article "To Become Knowledgeable Women" was published in the Myanma Alin newspaper.

She later married Chit Maung the chief editor of Myanma Alin in 1938.

Together, they founded The Journal Kyaw newspaper in 1939.

She began writing articles and short stories under the pen name "Journal Kyaw Ma Ma Lay".

In 1945, her seven-year-old daughter's leg operation was botched by a British Army doctor.

Ma Ma Lay was just 29 when her husband died in 1946, leaving her with two sons and a daughter.

Despite being a young widow, Ma Ma Lay displayed her talent and ability as a writer and a publisher.

Not only did she not close down the Journal, she published another one named "Pyithu Hittaing" or "The People's Voice Newspaper", in accordance with her husband's last wish.

Unfortunately, she could only run the press only for a few years due to the situation in the country.

Troubles began when a group of students destroyed her publishing company's printing house for her papers' perceived leftist slant (and perhaps for her family's ties with leading Marxists like Thein Pe Myint.) Not one to back down, Ma Ma Lay continued to publish her two papers by going deeply into debt.

In 1946, her husband suddenly died within 12 days of uncertain cause.

Ma Ma Lay studied traditional Burmese medicine for 15 years under Saya Hlaing (open at No.20, Kyaik Latt Street, Sanchaung township, Yangon), and opened a clinic in Yangon.

She traveled frequently to other regions and treated patients with tuberculosis, cancer, high blood pressure, hepatitis B, leprosy, diabetes, paralysis, mental disease, dropsy, elephantiasis.

Ma Ma Lay was said to have cured her youngest brother Tin Win of VD Venereal Disease in three months.

Later, Tin Win too studied Burmese medicine and became a traditional medicine practitioner in Mandalay.

Though she was able to repay part of the debts due to the commercial success of her 1947 book Thu Lo Lu (Like Him), she couldn't keep the presses going for long.

Ma Ma Lay continued her career as a writer and was also the president of the Writers Association in 1948, which was most unusual for a female.

Traveling the world was not easy for a woman at that time but Ma Ma Lay managed it.

She went to India, Japan, China and Russia, attending conferences and touring the countries.

She would not get back into the publishing business again but ran a small printing business in the 1950s.

Ma Ma Lay married Aung Zeya in 1959.

She continued writing until the 1970s.

She died in 1982 at the age of 65.

She died in Yangon on 6 April 1982.

She was almost 65.

Her eldest son Maung Thein Dan became an actor.

Her daughter was Dr. Daw Khin Lay Myint, a noted French scholar who died in 2007.

She translated two of her mother's works into French, and some French classics into Burmese.

Her youngest son was the poet Moe Hein.

Ma Ma Lay wrote nearly 20 books and many articles and short stories in the monthly magazines.

Many of her contemporaries and even younger writers describe her as a genius who could make simple everyday matters into readable, interesting books which reflected the lives and concerns of her readers.

Her famous works are:

Ma Ma Lay won two top Burmese Literary Prizes for "Not Out of Hate" and "A Slow Stream of Thoughts and Burmese Medicine Tales".

Ma Ma Lay was a practitioner of traditional Burmese medicine.

Her interest in traditional medicine began after her family's poor experience with Western medicine.