Tsering Yangzom Lama was born and raised in Nepal, where her family settled after fleeing Tibet in 1960. She has since lived in Toronto, Vancouver and New York. A graduate in creative writing and international relations at the University of British Columbia, she has published in numerous journals. When our land touched the sky is her first novel, and was a finalist for the Giller Prize 2022.
“1959, the Chinese army invaded Tibet, destroying temples and statues in its path as the Dalai Lama fled. In their mountain village, Lhamo, her sister Tenkyi, and their parents are particularly at risk, as the mother is an oracle appointed to communicate with spirits. It is she who will guide her relatives through the Himalayas, towards the Nepalese border where they hope to rebuild a community, while waiting to return to their native land.
Family saga, novel of exile and loss chiselled with poetry, When our land touched the sky recounts the fate of a sacrificed Tibet, the painful nostalgia for a land we left behind and the unshakable strength of family ties. » (Presentation of Buchet-Chastel editions).