Into English, I translate from Thai, Isan, and Lao, with a particular fondness for poetry.
Into Thai and Isan, I translate from English and Spanish.
In 2023, I honed my translation skills under the mentorship of Mui Poopoksakul in the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)’s Emerging Translator Mentorship Program. After a few years, the two stories translated during that mentorship are now published:
An Old Man, A Handgun (followed by an interview with me)
At Length Magazine, 2026
The Death of Aunt Huang (get a copy!)
I Was Alive Here Once: Ghost Stories, Two Lines Press, 2026
Starting in 2021, I run Sanam Ratsadon: An Archive of Common(er) Feelings which showcases Thai literary artefacts of political significance that would otherwise not circulate in translation. The following are my translations in order of publication from the newest to the oldest.
2026
The Spirit of Journalism (A Warning Once Again from an Old Friend)
A poem by Kawi Sri Siam (a pen name of Chit Phumisak), 1964
Is the Thai Language in Step with the Times?
An article by Boonlua Debyasuvarn, 1968
Entanglements of Bahasa Melayu in Phasa Thai
An article by A. Phonlachand, 1944
Orae Lua | Outsider
Essays by Sorayut Aiemueayut, 2015
2024
A laborer dreams much the same
A poem by Duanwad Pimwana, 2012
Children Have Dreams
A children’s book by Songkha and Mimininii, 2021
2023
Thai Universal Pronouns: A Failed Fascist Experiment and Its Queer Attraction
Government announcements, 1942-1944
Reader, You Know Best
Poems by Chutchon Aj, 2022
Nausea
A story by Nitipong Sumrankong, 2018
A King Cobra and I
An anecdote by Nontawat Machai, 2019
A Deep Dive Into Elephant Cuntry
A poem by unknown, the late 19th century
2022
the pickpocket who got in our pants
A poem by Inthuch, 2022
Against Feudal Obscenity
Articles by Intharayut, 1950
The Obscenity Case Against Ekkachai Hongkangwan
Judgments and an appeal, 2021 & 2022
I’ll live out a hundred lifetimes, but they won’t have my forgiveness
Interviews with Patiwat Saraiyaem, 2019 & 2020
The First DIY Guy at the Democracy Monument
Newspaper clippings from 1947 by Nowwanij Siriphatiwirut, 2019
2021
A Poem in Isan Explaining the Constitution of the Kingdom of Siam
By Khun Phrom Prasart, 1935
We subjects, as if mute and blind, have found ourselves at the end of the line
Poems by Arnon Nampa, 2011
I also work for a Thai nonprofit organization that runs a crowdsourced fund for political dissidents. The following are some of my translations published on the organization’s archive.
A ‘Peasant Comrade’ Who Became a Medical Student Under the Communist Party of Thailand
Siddhi-Issara Foundation, 2024
Late Absolute Monarchy Redux: Selections from Century-Old Newspapers
Part 1: My Tax Money!
Part 2: Desperate Before the Law
Part 3: To Be Fair, Woman
Siddhi-Issara Foundation, 2023
Take Care, Sib: Letters from Prison to Ekkachai Hongkangwan
Siddhi-Issara Foundation, 2023
Worachet’s Hate Mail: Selections
Siddhi-Issara Foundation, 2022
And finally, my older projects…
Five poems from Thailand, Protection International’s Human Rights Defenders Poetry Challenge, 2022.
• “Madhumans Who Dare To Dream” by Songphon Sonthirak
• “Remember, we’re all by your side” by Mek Krueng Fah (3rd Place Winner globally)
• “What is human” by Hatairatt Jaturawatana
• “Fix” by Prachya Pongpanich
• “To Little Sia” by Jakraphong Soungchomphan
The Isan-language translation of El Llano en llamas by Juan Rulfo, published in 2018 by Aan (Read) Publishing.
The Thai edition of Conscientious Objection: Resisting Militarized Society, published in 2020 by Nisit Samyan Press. [Translation editor]
Into Thai, “Conjuring the People: Entrepreneurial Localism and the Case of the Khon Kaen Model” by Richard MacDonald, Way Magazine, 2021.
[Part 1 of Thai translation] [Part 2 of Thai translation]
Into English, “The Progress of Josef K.’s Trial and the Appearance of a Tiger Hornet” by Phu Kradat, Asymptote Journal’s Blog, 2021.
Into English, “A Wet-Garbage Kid’s Taamlie” by Prapt, Japan Foundation Asia Center’s Asian Literature Project “YOMU,” 2022.
[A short story set in a dystopian uber-Thai universe, exploiting Isan language in its dramatization of social inequality in a public health and political crisis.]
A Song of Forgiveness *Within* by Patiwat Saraiyaem. A selection of Isan performance poems penned in and out of prison. Above is a video reading of the title poem. Video courtesy of Tyrell Haberkorn from the final event of the translation workshop Public/Scholarship on Nov 18/19, 2020.
Published works from this project:
• “The Bastille: A Molam’s Retelling” (with lyric video), The Siddhi-Issara Foundation, 2023.
• “In Remembrance of Kru Krong Chandavong,” DinDeng, 2022.
• “Lao Phaen, 11/4/2015”, Center For Southeast Asian Studies University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Justice in Translation Series, 2022.
• “Beware of killers who blend in with caterpillars,” Mekong Review, 2021.
