New book tells about the Danish-Thai archaeologist, ambassador’s wife and Thai senator Pensak Howitz. The exciting biography portrays a woman who has gone her own ways and on a variety of levels has strengthened the close ties between Denmark and Thailand.
Available in English here: https://scandasia.com/the-adventurous-life-of-pensak-howitz/
She has met Fidel Castro, Hillary Clinton and Emperor Hirohito. She has been drinking champagne with Prince Henrik, visiting a harem with Queen Margrethe and dancing with Dirch Passer. She has been close to major political events and diplomatic crises. Danish-Thai Pensak Howitz (born 1939) has lived a most unusual life, and the book PENSAK tells her fascinating and sometimes dramatic life story. At the same time, the book draws a portrait of Thailand and its close ties to Denmark.
The book tells about Pensak Howitz’s childhood years during World War II in the province of Isaan and about her time as a student and university lecturer in the 1960s Copenhagen. After that, a new phase in her life unfolds in diplomacy as the wife of Danish ambassador to Thailand, and later Saudi Arabia and Japan – an existence that takes place parallel to participating in exciting archaeological discoveries and sometimes dangerous work in emergency relief work.
Later follows the period in her life in which Pensak Howitz becomes Thai senator. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee she travels around the world and meets Presidents and Royalty. Back in Thailand, her everyday life spans from murder threats to collaboration with the reputable and corrupt leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
The book draws a portrait of a woman who has chosen to live more lives and a woman who has fought for the rights of the poor and endangered species. She has more than anyone of her generation built not just one, but several bridges between Denmark and Thailand, among others also through her charity organization Raindrop Foundation.
The book is ideal as a Christmas gift for any Danish person interested in Thailand. It can be purchased online among others on https://www.saxo.com where it costs 270 Dkr.. Freight costs to Asia is 288 Dkr. To read it as an eBook, it can be downloaded as a file and you will be able to save the shipping cost. The book will be published in an English language edition in 2020.
