INSPIRED BY THE EXPERIENCES OF AUTHOR’S OWN FAMILY: As in the novel, Tsering’s family fled Tibet and started over in refugee camps in Nepal. Tsering herself was born and raised in the refugee camp that is described in the novel. 

ONE OF THE FIRST NOVELS OF TIBET WRITTEN BY A TIBETAN WRITER TO BE PUBLISHED BY MAINSTREAM PUBLISHERS

STEEPED IN TIBETAN SPIRITUALITY & CULTURE: Novel is an immersive and loving tribute to the Tibetan worldview, a perspective that is rare in contemporary fiction.

ILLUMINATES THE DECADES-LONG CONSEQUENCES OF BEING FORCED INTO EXILE: In capturing the specific and often surreal realities of the Tibetan exile experience, the novel also brings to vivid life the larger challenges faced by displaced people who find themselves caught between two cultures and worlds.  

ETHICS OF DEALING WITH STOLEN CULTURAL ARTIFACTS: Raises interesting questions about who should possess artifacts removed from a country in times of conflict. 

CONTEMPORARY GEOPOLITICAL RELEVANCE: Given the volatile geopolitics around China and Tibet, as well as China and Hong Kong, interest in the human cost of China’s occupation will remain high.

US PUBLISHER: To published simultaneously by Bloomsbury.                

Tsering Yangzom Lama holds a BA in creative writing and international relations from the University of British Columbia, and an MFA from Columbia University. Born and raised in Nepal, Lama has lived in Toronto, New York City, and Vancouver, where she now resides. We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies is her first novel, and it was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Toronto Book Award, and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.

Author Residence: Vancouver

Author Hometown: Kathmandu, Nepal

A New York Times Book Review Summer Read Pick
A Washington Post Noteworthy Book of the Month
One of Booklist’s Top 10 Historical Fiction Debuts
One of Publishers Weekly’s Writers to Watch
A Most Anticipated Book - The Millions * Ms. Magazine * Bustle

Praise for
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies

“Through a stirring intergenerational saga that spans decades and continents, Tsering Yangzom Lama deftly unearths how exiles create home when their homeland has been stolen. With tender authenticity, We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies delicately and vigorously illustrates the ongoing human cost of Tibetan displacement, and the resolve of refugees to uphold a strong diaspora despite the violence of colonialism. The Tibetan women at the centre of Lama’s story are bound by an unflinching love for each other, their people, and the country to which they can no longer return. Vast in time, space, and feeling, this determined novel builds a vibrant world that’s both expansive and exact. Each line carefully bears the weight of longing for what once was, and the hope to sustain an uprooted culture still coming to be. Regenerative in spirit, the pages of this story are both an homage to survival and a home for the exiled.” 
—Jury citation, Scotiabank Giller Prize

“We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies showcases a writer of rare talent and uncompromising vision. In these pages that speak of exile and loss, of longing and sorrow, Tsering Lama also manages to remind us–with startling beauty and compassion – how much can still survive. This novel is a testament to a people’s resolve to love, no matter what. A triumph.” 
—Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King

“Tsering Yangzom Lama’s debut announces a thrilling new talent in global literature. A gorgeous, thoughtful novel, one that wrestles with history and culpability in ways that feel moving and profound.”
—Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling

“A true polished gem of a novel, every sentence is a revelation. Built out of both myth and history, Tsering Lama’s first novel marks the debut of a stunning new voice.”
—Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story and Lake Success
 
“[A] heartfelt and magical saga of a Tibetan family’s love, sacrifice, and heritage … Lama imbues this mesmerizing tale—informed by her own family fleeing Tibet for Nepal in the 1960s—with a rich sense of history, mysticism, and ritual.” 
—Publishers Weekly

“This symphonic novel sweeps like a long wave to its transcendent, devastating conclusion. A story about the violence of exile, but also about the bright threads of love that tie these characters to their culture, their ancestral land, and each other: an intelligent, adaptable love that offers them their survival. Sentence by sentence, Lama builds an unforgettable world, sharpened by the force of her characters’ longing. You must hand your heart over to this astonishing novel—it will be better for the breaking.”
—Shruti Swamy, author of The Archer and A House Is a Body
 
“[An] achingly beautiful debut.” 
—Booklist (starred review)

“Tsering Lama’s wise and devastating debut implores readers to consider what it means to live in exile, what it feels like to never belong. Through the heartbreaking, yet hopeful story of one Tibetan family’s struggle to survive and their yearning for liberation, she delivers a stirring love letter to a country and culture. We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies captured my heart and mind. A must-read and a marvel.”
—Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers
 
“We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies asks what happens when colonialism and cruelty take your homeland. Is it gone forever? What remains in the mind and heart? Can loss be restored? A haunting novel of family and exile, written with beauty, authenticity, and grace.” 
—David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife

“The novel thrives as a story about sisterhood, parenthood, and the heart-piercing feeling of exile … A smart, sweeping story about the abuse and transformation of a culture stripped of its country.” 
—Kirkus Reviews

“Lama is an emotionally nuanced writer. In the novel, ire and elucidation are finely balanced, underscoring ideas of unity and sacrifice. Mythological motifs are woven into the narrative. We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies serves as a witness to the struggles of Tibetan exiles, and details unspoken interior lives shaped by geopolitical strife.”
—Quill & Quire

“This wildly beautiful novel, epic in scale, moves back and forth in time and across continents as it traces three generations of a Tibetan family and tells the story of their lives as exiles. The narrative, which begins with China’s 1959 invasion of Tibet, is gorgeously structured, the story told with tenderness and with a restrained but felt passion that makes the lives of its characters—their individuality as well as the cultural, historical, and familial bonds that shape their destinies—palpable. This is a magnificently textured and deeply affecting novel.” 
—Jay Neugeboren, author and former guest editor, Ploughshares