Tsering Wangmo Dhompa
Tsering Wangmo Dhompa (born 1969) is the first Tibetan female poet to be published in English.
Tsering Wangmo Dhompa

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- Name
- Tsering Wangmo Dhompa
- Born
- 1969
- Birthplace
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- poet · writer
- Fields
- poetry
- Education
- San Francisco State University · University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Languages
- English
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Tsering Wangmo Dhompa (born 1969) is the first Tibetan female poet to be published in English.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q293163 · wikipedia · Tsering Wangmo Dhompa
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Tsering Wangmo Dhompa • Birth Name — Tsering Wangmo Dhompa • Born — 1969 • Birthplace — Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India • Genre — Poetry, non-fiction • Notable Works — Rules of the House
Early life
Early life
She was raised in India and Nepal. Tsering received her BA from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. She pursued her MA from University of Massachusetts and her MFA in creative writing from San Francisco State University. She has a Ph.D. in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently an associate professor in the English Department at Villanova University.
Literary career
Literary career
Her first book of poems, Rules of the House, published by Apogee Press in 2002, was a finalist for the Asian American Literary Awards in 2003. Other publications include, a chapbook Revolute (Albion Books, 2021), My Rice Tastes Like the Lake (Apogee Press 2011), In the Absent Everyday (also from Apogee Press), and two other chapbooks: In Writing the Names (A.bacus, Poets & Poets Press) and Recurring Gestures (Tangram Press). In Letter For Love she delivered her first short story. In 2013, Penguin India published Tsering's first full-length book, A Home in Tibet, in which she chronicles her successive journeys to Tibet and provides ethnographic details of ordinary Tibetans inside Tibet.
Anthologies
Anthologies
• Old Demons, New Deities: Twenty-One Short Stories from Tibet, edited by Tenzin Dickie. OR Books, 2021. • Contemporary Voices of the Eastern World: An Anthology of Poems, edited by Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal, and Ravi Shankar. W.W. Norton and Co. 2007 • The Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry Ed. Andrew Schelling, Wisdom Publications 2005 Page 41-51 • Muses in Exile: An Anthology of Tibetan Poetry Ed. Bhuchung D. Sonam Paljor Publications Pvt. Ltd. India 2005. • An Other Voice: English Literature from Nepal, edited by Deepak Thapa and Kesang Tseten, Martin Chautari 2002 Nepal
Articles
Articles
• "This Wor(l)d as an Illusion", Evening will Come, March 2011 • Letter For Love, Caravan Magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 08 (August 2010) • "After the Earthquake", Phayul April 29, 2010 • Nostalgia in Contemporary Tibetan Writing

Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, critically acclaimed poet and author of "Rule of the House" and "In the Absent Everyday.
SFT HQ · Flickr: Tsering Wangmo Dhompa
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1969
Tsering Wangmo Dhompa was born on 6 March 1969.
Books
• The Politics of Sorrow: Unity and Allegiance Across Tibetan Exile, Columbia University Press 2025 • Revolute, Albion Books, VA 2021 • Coming Home to Tibet, Shambhala Publications, Boulder 2016 • A Home in Tibet, Penguin India, Delhi 2013 • My Rice Tastes Like the Lake, Apogee Press, Berkeley 2011 • In the Absent Everyday, Apogee Press, Berkeley 2005 • Rules of the House, Apogee Press, Berkeley 2002 • Recurring Gestures, Tangram Press, • In Writing the Names, Abacus, 2000
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Identity, memory, and homeland: in conversation with Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, a Tibetan author and poet in exile, International Journal of Asian Studies, 2023
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2023
- Of exile and writing: An interview with the Tibetan poet Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 2013
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2013
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q293163: Tsering Wangmo Dhompa
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Tsering Wangmo Dhompa”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Of exile and writing: An interview with the Tibetan poet Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 2013Crossref registry
Institutional witnessauthority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Tsai Ting KanAuthor
- Tsangyang GyatsoAuthor
- Tsegaye Gabre-MedhinAuthor
- TserentsAuthor
- Tsering WoeserAuthor
- Tsitsi DangarembgaAuthor
- Tsoltim Ngima ShakabpaAuthor
- Tsubouchi ShōyōAuthor
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