Tenzin Tsundue

Tenzin Tsundue (born 1975) is a poet, writer and Tibetan refugee and activist. As of 2019 he has been taken into preventive custody, arrested or jailed 16 times for short durations for his activism by Indian authorities, as India does not allow Tibetans to engage in anti-China activities in India. When he was 22, he travelled to Tibet. However, he was arrested and sent back to India, "They told me I was born in India and so I did not belong to Tibet."

He won the first-ever Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction in 2001 for his work "My Kind of Exile". He has published four books which have been translated into several languages: Crossing the Border (1999), Kora (2002), Semshook (2007), and Tsen-göl (2012). Tsundue's writings have also appeared in various publications around the world including the International PEN, Outlook, and The Times of India. In 2002 the Indian edition of the international fashion magazine Elle, named him among India's 50 most stylish people along with the Dalai Lama. Tenzin Tsundue joined Friends of Tibet (India) in 1999 and is the current General Secretary. Tsundue lives in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, North India.