Tsering Yangzom Lama examines the cost of exile in debut novel We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies
'I hope this novel will give readers a chance to go beyond the headlines and slogans about Tibet'
Tsering Yangzom Lama is a Tibetan Canadian author based in Vancouver. Born and raised in Nepal, she's also lived in Toronto and New York City.
Her debut novel, We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies, published this spring, recounts a Tibetan family's struggle to create new lives of dignity, love and hope after China's invasion of Tibet in the 1950s. Readers follow sisters Lhamo and Tenkyi on a multi-decade journey through exile, from a harrowing trek across the Himalayas to a refugee camp on the border of Nepal.
Decades later, the sisters are separated. Tenyki lives in Toronto with Lhamo's daughter Dolma, who has to decide if it's worth risking her dreams to help her community.
Lama holds a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from the University of British Columbia and a MFA from Columbia University. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Globe and Mail, the Malahat Review and Grain. She has been a resident at Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center and more. Lama is currently a storytelling advisor with Greenpeace International.
Lama spoke to CBC Books about how she wrote We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies.
We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies is on the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist. The winner will be announced on Nov. 7, 2022.
A comedic beginning
"In my second semester at Columbia University's MFA program, 12 years ago, I began writing what I thought would be a comedy of manners about the Tibetan community in Toronto, where I had been an organizer for two years.
"The story was about the particular culture of exile communities like ours, one that is intensely bound together and yet faces the pressures of surviving in a nation that is often difficult for immigrants. I had a cast of many funny characters and wanted to focus on Tibetans' love of laughing at ourselves.
The story was about the particular culture of exile communities like ours, one that is intensely bound together and yet faces the pressures of surviving in a nation that is often difficult for immigrants.
"But as I wrote, I realized that each of the characters had so much more going on, so much hidden tragedy and struggle, and this demanded a different tone and scale."
Changing the rhythms
"I find it helpful to keep shifting the way I see my words, to try to see them as a stranger would.
"Writing residencies were also important. I typically spend up to two months every year at artists residencies, working in seclusion so I can have long stretches of time to think of nothing else.
I find it helpful to keep shifting the way I see my words, to try to see them as a stranger would.
"When I was editing, I would often listen to readings of poems and novels. One was Ulysses' section on Molly Bloom. I found it useful to introduce a river of words, even if I never pulled from it. Molly Bloom's voice echoed in my mind as I wrote Tenkyi's section. It was a way to change the rhythms of my own voice, and to make Tenkyi sound different from Lhamo, another character of similar age."
The cost of exile
"Within the last 50 years, Tibetans have lost their homelands and experienced profound upheaval — personal and societal. We have gone from being nomads or farmers living on our ancestral lands, to refugees begging on the streets for food, to immigrants living all over the world.
"Tibetans in Tibet can no longer move freely throughout their country. They need Chinese permits to simply go from one region to another. The occupation of our homeland is also a form of spiritual violence, one that denies people freedom to worship in this ancient way.
The occupation of our homeland is also a form of spiritual violence, one that denies people freedom to worship in this ancient way.
"Meanwhile, those of us in exile cannot enter Tibet, except in rare circumstances. Instead, we travel across the face of the earth in search of safety and refuge. Whether inside or outside Tibet, we experience this colonization and displacement in our bodies. We carry it in our day-to-day existence.
"I wanted to understand what had happened to us, how we survived, and how colonization and exile have shaped us."
Chosen family
"We're compelled to think of ourselves as individuals who have separate fates from our neighbours and the rest of humanity. As a result, I think many people live in extreme isolation, loneliness, and even moral disorientation.
We can remake families if we are committed to loving anyone as our own.
"For most Tibetan exiles, because we have experienced the breakage of families as a result of displacement, we tend to call people who aren't related to us 'aunt,' 'uncle', 'sister' and so forth. Everyone can be our kin in this sense. I value this expansive and loose sense of family. We can remake families if we are committed to loving anyone as our own."
Remembering Tibet
"I would like people to remember Tibet, and to understand the profound historical catastrophe that my community has had to face and survive. No nation, no great power has put their might behind us.
It requires looking at the everyday realities of ordinary people — our spirituality, how we love, how we carry on.
"This is a massive story. And it cannot be understood simply through the abstract conceptual frameworks of international politics or the rhetoric of nation-states. It requires looking at the everyday realities of ordinary people — our spirituality, how we love, how we carry on.
"I hope this novel will give readers a chance to go beyond the headlines and slogans about Tibet."
Tsering Yangzom Lama's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
