Shwe U Daung

Shwe U Daung ရွှေဥဒေါင်း
Born	Pe Thein (1889-10-24)October 24, 1889 Man Kyee Tone, Shwebo district, Sagaing Division, Myanmar
Died	August 10, 1973(1973-08-10) (aged 83)
Nationality	Myanmar
Occupation	Writer
Parent(s)	Ayar (father) Shwe (mother)
Awards	Translation Award (1952,1955) Lifetime Achievement Award (1961)

Shwe U Daung (1889—1973) was a prolific Burmese writer, translator, and editor. He is known for creating the character Detective U San Shar, who could be considered the Burmese equivalent of Sherlock Holmes. He had also received many awards including the Sarpay Beikman awards. Many of his published books are still in print today due to their enduring appeal.

Biography and career

Shwe U Daung was born in Man Kyee Tone in the Shwebo district of the Sagaing Division of Myanmar on October 24th, 1889, and given the birth-name U Pe Thein. His father was British U Ayar and his mother was Daw Shwe. He was the third of the five siblings.

He attended the Buddhist School in Mandalay, and later transferred to Mandalay Monastery and ABM schools. In the year 1908 he cleared the entrance exam at the University of Kolkata. Then he worked as a teacher at the Mandalay Buddhist and ABM schools.

On November 8th, 1915 his first novel Yan Gyi Aung was published. Then he wrote the novel Yadanapon at the urging of Thura U Ba Bay. It was based on Ellen Wood's novel East Lynne.

After publishing two novels he became an editor for Thuriya magazine and entered the literary world. He was given the pen name Shwe U Dwung which, although, was a trademark of Thuriya he adopted for use in the literary world.

While he was still editing Thuriya he jointly published the first issue of Myanmar Strategic Journal along with a friend. In 1920 he left the editor job of Thuriya magazine.

Published books

• Shwe U Daung, 1953
• Yadanarbone, 1953 (novel)
• Detective U San Shar (စုံထောက်ဦးစံရှား), 1961
• Yupa Kalayar Ni, 1961

Death

He died on August 10th, 1973.