INVITATION TO OPENING PARTY OF CERAMICS EXHIBIT
AND BOOK LAUNCH
OF FIRST THAI TRANSLATION OF A WORLD CLASSIC
First written in English over a hundred years ago, Okakura Kakuzo’s The Book
of Tea is not a book only about tea. It is a short treatise on the philosophy of
“Asianism”, Asian aesthetics and arts, what it is to be Asian and what
constitutes Asian culture and thinking. Full of humor, warmth, wisdom, and
anecdotes, it quickly reached popularity as a world classic on many a “must-
read” list and finally for the very first time was translated into Thai by Karin
Klinkajorn of King Mongkot Institute of Technology and Pravit Rojanapruk
from The Nation last year. It never had a book launch but it will be at the center
of events next week.
We have arranged for NMV members to be invited to the opening paraty for a
special exhibition of tea ceramics by well-know Thai ceramicist Ms. Panchalie
Sathirasas (also leader of the Quiet Bangkok Movement) on the evening of
Friday September 16th at 7PM, at the Pridi Banomyong Institute, 2nd Fl, between
Sois 1 and 3 on Thonglor, Sukhumvit 55. Though already being sold in book
stores, the Thai translation of The Book of Tea will be on public show for the
first time at this same opening ceremony and on sale for a special lower price.
Suvanna Krienkraipetch, Director of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
Anthropology Centre, will open the exhibit, after which refreshments will be
served. The translators also will be present. NMV members who wish to reserve
for this event should send their RSVP to John Toomey at
john.j.toomey@gmail.com by noon September 14th. The exhibit will run from
September 17th to 25th, from 10:00 to 20:00 daily.
Further, on the afternoon of Friday, September 23rd, at the same venue at 4PM, a
public seminar on The Book of Tea will be held, featuring the translators, and
Suvanna Satha-Anand, who wrote the introduction to this translation, and
professors from Thammasat and Chulalongkorn Universities. This seminar will
be in Thai, but there will be English translators available to help non-Thai
speakers. There is no need to make reservations for this seminar; one just shows
up. You can access the full text of The Book of Tea in the original English at
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tea.htm .
All of the above events are free. For further information, please send e-mail to
John Toomey at the address above. “Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in
the beautiful foolishness of things” (last sentence of Chapter 1, The Book of
Tea).