Jirapat Angsumalee

Jirapat Angsumalee was raised and educated in Phuket, then worked as an art teacher and a journalist for the progressive Prachathippatai newspaper before the political upheavals of 1973 and 1976. In the constrained intellectual climate that followed, he established his reputation as a writer, under the pen name “Sireh,” for articles and books that recounted the history of music, including rock, blues, and jazz, as well as songs advocating for justice around the world. Angsumalee’s wide-ranging literary output encompasses novels (including The Ink Snatcher, 2006) and collections of poetry (Outline, 1985), as well as travelogues and documentary works such as 66,708 Kilometers: the Episodes from the Siberian- Hong Kong Roadside (1989). The novel The Ink Snatcher (2006) and his collection of short stories, Perversion (2001), both received national literary awards and were finalists for the prestigious S.E.A. Write Award. In parallel with his writing, Jirapat also makes visual art. His paintings, addressing contemporary cultural issues, politics, history, and human rights, have been shown in numerous solo exhibitions in Bangkok including Dark (VS Gallery, 2021), The Colors of Jazz (Mini XSpace, 2022), and Her (Palette Art Space, 2025), as well as Blues, held at Red Dog Gallery in Chiang Mai (2023).