Thongkham Chantavong

Only in Laos: An unusual request from an author

Photo of Thongkham Chantavong Although it has not yet been mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records, Thongkham Chanthavong did something that we believe no author in history has ever done before. After his alphabet book No Chickens, No Eggs was published, with his photo taking up about an eighth of the back cover, he asked, "Next time, could you make my picture smaller?"

Thongkham was born in 1983 in Namla village, about four hours from Luang Prabang. After eighth grade, he became a novice, and continued to study at Buddhist school in Luang Prabang. Then he went to Vientiane, and studied at Lao-American College.

During his four years at the college, Thongkham liked to write short stories in his free time, especially stories about young people. He thinks that writing stories can help reduce stress, and it helps release thoughts that are stuck in the mind. One of his stories, "Love Her One Side", won a writing competition, and has been published in a book.

After Thongkham graduated in 2005, he worked full-time for Big Brother Mouse in Vientiane for almost two years. During that time, in addition to translating other books, he compiled pictures for two alphabet books, and wrote one of our most popular books, Dinosaurs!