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The Sad Part Was

Prabda Yoon Mui Poopoksakul

$29.99

Paperback

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Thai
Tilted Axis Press
01 August 2025
'Evocative, erudite, and often very funny stories of Bangkok life.'

The Guardian

A 'Book to Look Out For' by The Guardian and BuzzFeed, The Sad Part Was offers an oblique reflection of contemporary Bangkok life.

In these witty, postmodern stories, Yoon riffs on pop culture, experiments with punctuation, flirts with sci-fi and, in a metafictional twist, mocks his own position as omnipotent author. Highly literary, his narrativesexplore the bewildering disjunct and oft-hilarious contradictions of a modernity that is at odds with many traditional Thai ideas on relationships, family, school and work.
By:  
Translated by:  
Imprint:   Tilted Axis Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm, 
Weight:   240g
ISBN:   9781911284062
ISBN 10:   1911284061
Pages:   192
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

The author of multiple story collections, novels and screenplays, Prabda Yoon is also a translator (of classics by Salinger and Nabokov), independent publisher (of books both originally written in and translated into Thai), graphic designer, and filmmaker. Having lived in the USA from the ages of 14 to 26, he speaks fluent English and is at home moving between the cultures. Mui Poopoksakul is a lawyer-turned-translator. She grew up in Bangkok and Boston, and practiced law in New York City before returning to the literary field. She is the translator of Prabda Yoon's The Sad Part Was (2017) and Moving Parts (2018), both winners of a PEN Translates award, and of Duanwad Pimwana's Arid Dreams (2020) and Bright (2019).

Reviews for The Sad Part Was

'Formally inventive, always surprising and often poignant, with the publication of this fluid and assured translation of The Sad Part Was, Prabda Yoon can take his place alongside the likes of Ben Lerner and Alejandro Zambra as a writer committed to demonstrating that there's life in the old fiction-dog yet.' - Adam Biles, author of Feeding Time --- 'An entrancing and distinctive collection. Yoon's limpid prose faces up to large, transcendental questions, all the while flickering with beautiful other-worldly images and flashes of deadpan humour.' - Mahesh Rao, author of One Point Two Billion


  • Short-listed for TA First Translation Award 2017
  • Short-listed for TA First Translation Award 2017 (UK)
  • Winner of English PEN Writers in Translation Award 2016
  • Winner of English PEN Writers in Translation Award 2016.
  • Winner of S.E.A Write Award 2002

See Also