Jidanan Luengpiangsamut has won the SEA Write Award for a collection of short stories, the second woman in 10 years to be honoured with Southeast Asia's prestigious literary prize.
Her book, Singto Nok Khok (roughly "the outcast lion"), is a collection of nine short stories that touch on the human condition, power, myth and belief in Thai society.
In one story titled "I will solely take the responsibility", she writes about a fictitious town frozen by cold and devoid of food and firewood, where the ruler is forced to decide what to do with the last supply of meat.
The jury led by Kusuma Raksamanee praised Jidanan's work for its use of allegory and "for the multi-layered structure that connect myth, lore and stories," as well as her ability to create "characters that are not fixed in the Thai context and can cross over to universality".
Veeraporn Nitiprapa won in 2015 for her novel A Blind Earthworm in a Labyrinth.
