Ma Thida is an acclaimed dissident writer and human rights activist from Myanmar. She spent six years in prison during the 1990s, an experience she vividly recounts in her memoir Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein, where she describes using vipassana meditation to navigate the hardships of incarceration. Ma Thida has authored over a dozen books, along with numerous short stories, and has served as both an editor and a surgeon. She has been honored with the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the Reebok Human Rights Award. Currently, she serves as the chair of the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International.
Ma Thida adalah penulis disiden dan aktivis hak asasi manusia dari Myanmar. Ia menghabiskan enam tahun di penjara pada tahun 1990-an, sebuah pengalaman yang ia ceritakan dalam memoarnya, Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein. Dalam buku tersebut, ia menggambarkan bagaimana ia menggunakan meditasi vipassana untuk menavigasi masa-masa sulit dalam tahanan. Ma Thida telah menulis lebih dari selusin buku dan beberapa cerita pendek, dan pernah menjabat sebagai editor dan ahli bedah. Ia dianugerahi PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award dan the Reebok Human Rights Award. Saat ini, ia menjabat sebagai Ketua Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) di PEN International.
