Sarpay Beikman

Sarpay Beikman (Burmese: စာပေဗိမာန်; literally 'Palace of Literature') originated as the Burmese Translation Society. Its first President was Prime Minister U Nu, who started a Burmese translation job at Judson College (now University of Yangon). The purpose was to translate world culture, literature, education for the Burmese public. In 1963 the society was absorbed into the Ministry of Information's Printing and Publishing Enterprise as the Sarpay Beikman Literature House, and the mandate was extended to encourage local writers and to print and publish books of all types. The society presents the annual Sarpay Beikman Manuscript Awards and Burma National Literature Awards for excellent new unpublished and published writing in various categories.

Early years

After independence the Burmese Translation Society decided that independent Burma need a Burmese Encyclopedia and began the project to compile one in May 1948. Initially, they wanted to translate Sir John Hamilton's encyclopedia into 10 volumes. Shortly after this (in 1949), they stopped direct translation and completed the project with Burmese related articles including facts on the arts and sciences. Volume No. 1 was printed in 1954; the last volume (No. 15) was completed and printed in 1976. The first five volumes were printed in England, but after that the society started using its own press in Rangoon, After that, yearly volumes of updates were published.