Editorial | Lau Yee Wa's Story: The Winner of Chommanard International Women's Literary Award 2025

This edition of Elite+ is especially auspicious as we complete our first 12-year cycle and enter the Year of the Fire Horse that only occurs every 60 years and symbolises the energy and passion we see in flames and the commitment of our team to give you the best magazine we can.

This past year, Praphansarn Publishing and Bangkok Bank expanded the Chommanard Book Prize that for the past 14 years has recognised the best novel written by a Thai female writer. We are thus very pleased to introduce the Chommanard International Women’s Literary Award that celebrates the best female writers throughout ASEAN and the China region. Our cover story introduces the Grand Prize winner of the award, Lau Yee Wa, for her novel Tongueless.

We next share with you the opening speech at the AEC Business Forum by Bangkok Bank President Chartsiri Sophonpanich, who discussed how ASEAN can provide stability in a volatile world, which feels all the more relevant given the conflicts unfolding around the globe.

Next, we introduce HE Pham Viet Hung, Viet Nam’s ambassador to Thailand as our countries prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations. After this, we visit Klaus G Förg, an award-winning German publisher and photographer and his wife Siriporn at their home in the northern regions of the Kingdom to learn how he succeeded in such competitive professions. Then, we meet Sasin Chalermlarp, the former secretary-general and president of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation and very much still a respected environmental activist.

Later in this issue, we give you the chance to sit down with the inspiring, award-winning Italian author Dacia Maraini, who came to Thailand on behalf of the SEA Write Award and while now 90 years of age had the energy to give lectures to students and interested persons at Chulalongkorn and Thammasat universities as well as the Neilsen Hays Library. We also introduce Thongvut Pintaruchi and the Association of the Spouses of the Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ASOMFA) of which he is president to learn how they serve Thai diplomats and their families.

In between, we take you to dine at Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok’s Silver Waves by Boon for Dim Sum delights and then to Seoul to walk amidst the past and future before visiting ancient Kraków. Once the royal capital of Poland, it’s one of the first cities to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 1978. Earlier, closer to home, we explore the wildlife of Thailand’s first national park, Khao Yai and then treat you to the short story, “A Warm Breeze as Night Falls”, by National Artist Seksan Prasertkul.

I do hope you enjoy this issue that brings an end to our first 12-year cycle and begins our next cycle.

Arthorn Techatada
Executive Editor