Journalist and author Amy Yee discussed Tibetan culture and her book “Far From the Rooftop of the World” at the Wisconsin Book Festival on Oct. 26.
Her narrative nonfiction and travelogue book chronicles the lives of four Tibetan exiles over 14 years as they stay true to their Tibetan heritage while making new lives for themselves.
“There are lots of books about Tibet and lots about the Dalai Lama, but not about Tibetan people living in exile and their lives,” Yee said.
Yee wrote the book without the help of interpreters, fixers or research assistants. Because she was living cheaply in Dharmasala in a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery, she said she was able to just write what she saw.
“I had no particular agenda at all,” she said.
Host Sonam Dolma, a resident physician at UW Health, opened the talk by outlining a number of Yee’s credentials and awards, including writing for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and winning three awards from the United Nations Correspondents Association.
Yee’s poised demeanor softened, her face lighting up as she began speaking about some of the people she met while writing the book.
Norbu, a chef whom Yee got to know through regular lunches at his Japanese restaurant, left Tibet when he was just a teenager after being unjustly arrested for a protest in which he was a bystander.
Norbu left clandestinely for India, journeying over ice mountains for 17 days and leaving his family behind.
“Ultimately he did adapt, but it was not easy, and he was still always very homesick and desperately wanted to see his mother,” Yee said.
Dolma, a Tibetan born in Bir Tibetan Colony in Northern India, contributed to the conversation with her own personal experiences and the experiences of her father, who escaped Tibet at the age of 17.
Dolma recounted how her father and his brother would rub each other’s feet at night to not get hypothermia or frostbite when travelling through the Tibetan mountains.
Dolma then said how she came to understand the variety of ways in which Tibetans in the U.S. were keeping Tibetan culture alive.
“My parents always say it's like a hand. You have five fingers, and they're all different sizes, and they look different, but they work together to have the functionality of your hand,” she said. “So in my mind, I kind of saw that for Tibetans. You have Tibetans who are in very different sectors, but we all have the same goal of preserving the Tibetan culture, keeping this Tibetan movement alive in whatever way we can.”
Towards the end of the talk, Yee highlighted the beauty of seeing Tibetan culture alive and thriving throughout the world by recounting her experiences at celebrations in Melbourne, Amsterdam and Evanston.
She recounted being in the middle of a conversation with a man when he told her he had to go because he liked the song playing. He jumped into the dance circle, and Yee noted how everyone knew the dance. When she asked him how he knew the footwork, he responded that everyone in Tibetan school in India learned it.
“It was just moving to see that these threads of culture survive and thrive in all parts of the world,” Yee said.
