Norbu has written several books and theater pieces in English and in Tibetan. ''Illusion and Reality'', a collection of his political essays, was published in 1989.<ref name="AM" /> In 2000 he received the [[Hutch Crossword Book Award]] for ''[[The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes]]''. The book was published in the U.S. in 2001, first under the title ''Sherlock Holmes - The Missing Years'', and fills in the gap in 1891 when [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] temporarily killed off Holmes. In the book, Holmes joins Huree Chunder Mookerjee, another fictional spy who last worked for the English in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]''.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/style/28iht-tracey_ed3_.html |title=Tibetan Sherlock shakes up the movement |last=Tracey |first=David |date=2002-03-28 |work=New York Times |accessdate=12 May 2010 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206002028/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/style/28iht-tracey_ed3_.html |archivedate= 6 December 2011 |df= }}</ref><ref name="WSJ">{{cite news|url=https://online.wsj.com/article/SB1003462713490228440.html|title=Longing for the Himalayas|last=Namgyal|first=Tsering|date=2001-10-19|work=The Wall Street Journal|accessdate=12 May 2010}}</ref>
Norbu has written several books and theater pieces in English and in Tibetan. ''Illusion and Reality'', a collection of his political essays, was published in 1989.<ref name="AM" /> In 2000 he received the [[Hutch Crossword Book Award]] for ''[[The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes]]''. The book was published in the U.S. in 2001, first under the title ''Sherlock Holmes - The Missing Years'', and fills in the gap in 1891 when [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] temporarily killed off Holmes. In the book, Holmes joins Huree Chunder Mookerjee, another fictional spy who last worked for the English in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]''.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/style/28iht-tracey_ed3_.html |title=Tibetan Sherlock shakes up the movement |last=Tracey |first=David |date=2002-03-28 |work=New York Times |accessdate=12 May 2010 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206002028/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/style/28iht-tracey_ed3_.html |archivedate= 6 December 2011 |df= }}</ref><ref name="WSJ">{{cite news|url=https://online.wsj.com/article/SB1003462713490228440.html|title=Longing for the Himalayas|last=Namgyal|first=Tsering|date=2001-10-19|work=The Wall Street Journal|accessdate=12 May 2010}}</ref>
He has written many book reviews, including that of Professor Grunfeld.<ref name="acme">{{cite web|url=http://www.tibetwrites.org/?Acme-of-Obscenity |title=Acme of Obscenity - Tom Grunfeld and The Making of Modern Tibet |publisher=TibetWrites.org |date=August 18, 2008 |accessdate=October 24, 2012 |author=Norbu, Jamyang |authorlink=Jamyang Norbu |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704094653/http://www.tibetwrites.org/?Acme-of-Obscenity |archivedate=July 4, 2010 |df= }}</ref>
In 2011, he participated in the International Writing Program (IWP) Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iwp.uiowa.edu/residency/participants-by-year/2011%20Resident|title=2011 Resident Participants {{!}} The International Writing Program|website=iwp.uiowa.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-04-12}}</ref>
In 2011, he participated in the International Writing Program (IWP) Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iwp.uiowa.edu/residency/participants-by-year/2011%20Resident|title=2011 Resident Participants {{!}} The International Writing Program|website=iwp.uiowa.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-04-12}}</ref>
'Jamyang Norbu (Tibetan: འཇམ་དབྱངས་ནོར་བུ་, Wylie: jam-dbyangs nor-bu) is a Tibetan political activist and writer, currently living in the United States, having previously lived for over 40 years as a Tibetan exile in India.
Biography
Norbu attended St. Joseph's School in Darjeeling, India.[1] As a teenager, he dropped out of school[2] and ran away from home to join the Tibetan guerrilla group Chushi Gangdruk, which operated from Mustang in Nepal.[3] He was the creator of Tibetans-in-exile taxation system, or the Green Book, which has helped fund the exile government since 1972.[1] Later he founded and directed the Amnye Machen Institute, Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies, in Dharamsala.[4]
Politics
Jamyang Norbu has been called a "radical Tibetan separatist" by the People's Daily.[5] His advocacy for complete Tibetan independence and criticism of the nonviolent "Middle Way" autonomy plan of the Central Tibetan Administration has led him to push for more "confrontational" methods.[2]
Jamyang Norbu is also critical of the role of religion in the Tibetan exile community,[6] and of its Western benefactors who, he argues, see Tibetans one-dimensionally.[7] He calls the "New Age perception of Tibet... that this even materialist west will be saved by the spiritualism of the Tibetan Buddhists" "total nonsense."[8] He said of a scene from the American filmSeven Years in Tibet where Tibetan monks rescue earthworms from a construction site, that Tibetan viewers would find it ridiculous.[9] In a 2005 article for the New Humanist, he recalled an outbreak of rabies in 1983 Dharamsala: when he advocated that a Tibetan woman get a rabies shot instead of seeing a shaman, he was shunned in the community as a "nonbeliever." He lamented, "We are frankly, a people still in thrall to ignorance and superstition, which far from declining with the years seems to be gaining new life and impetus with foreign sponsorship and encouragement."[6]
Writings
Norbu has written several books and theater pieces in English and in Tibetan. Illusion and Reality, a collection of his political essays, was published in 1989.[4] In 2000 he received the Hutch Crossword Book Award for The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes. The book was published in the U.S. in 2001, first under the title Sherlock Holmes - The Missing Years, and fills in the gap in 1891 when Arthur Conan Doyle temporarily killed off Holmes. In the book, Holmes joins Huree Chunder Mookerjee, another fictional spy who last worked for the English in Rudyard Kipling's Kim.[10][11]
He has written many book reviews, including that of Professor Grunfeld.[12]
In 2011, he participated in the International Writing Program (IWP) Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.[13]
Warriors of Tibet: The Story of Aten and the Khampas' Fight for the Freedom of Their Country (originally titled Horseman in the Snow), Wisdom, 1987, Wisdom Pub., ISBN0-86171-050-9.
Author, blogger and activist Jamyang Norbu spoke to hundreds of Tibetans and supporters at a protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in 2011.The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, Bloomsbury USA, 2003, ISBN1-58234-328-4.
