‘I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.’
Jorge Luis Borges
ལྷ་ཡུལ་ནི་དཔེ་མཛོད་ཁང་ལྟ་བུ་ཞིག་ཡོད་སྲིད།
བྷོར་གྷེ་སི། （博尔赫斯)
Latse
In Tibetan ‘latse’ refers to a summit of a mountain pass. Latse Contemporary Tibetan library is a one of a kind Tibetan research library located in the heart of the West Village, New York. In addition to housing a extraordinary collection of Modern Tibetan literary works, the library frequently hosts lectures, seminars, film screenings and exhibitions of Tibetan art. This resource is meant to introduce Latse library to Columbia students with an interest in Tibetan culture, history and literature. Through three interviews conducted with Pema Bhum, Director of the library, Kristina Dy-Liacco, Librarian and Tenzin Dickyi, a Tibetan writer based in New York and regular library patrons, I hope to showcase the mission of the library, its role in the Tibetan diaspora community in New York and ways in which students can get visit and get involved.
About Myself
My name is Riga Shakya, a PhD candidate in Sino-Tibetan history in the History-East Asia Program. My interests broadly span classical and contemporary Tibetan literature and the history of Sino-Tibetan relations and my doctoral research centres on the emergence of Tibetan political biography during the Qing period, with particular attention to the literary works of the Tibetan cabinet minister and polymath Dokhar Tsering Wangyal (Mdo mkhar tshe ring dbang rgyal).
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