Jawaharlal Nehru, Pandit Nehru (14 Nov. 1889, Allahabad, India - 27 May 1964, New Delhi) was an Indian anti-colonial activist and statesman, the figure head leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s, the first Prime Minister of independent India from 1947 to his death in… Read more

Raymond Cogniat (14 April 1896, Paris- 20 Feb. 1977, Paris, France) was a French art critic, historian of art and journalist who authored in 1932 Danses d'Indochine, a commented collection of photographs with a focus on Cambodian classical dance. Active since 1918 in the field of avant-garde… Read more

Amalananda (A.) Gosh (3 March 1910, Varanasi, British India – 1981, New York City, USA) was an Indian archaeologist and paleoarchaeologist who conducted several archaeological expeditions around India during the 20th century and authored numerous books and publications, including An Encyclopaedia… Read more

Prof. Anton Zigmund-Cerbu (19 Oct. 1923, Bucharest, Romania - 10 March 1964, New York City, USA) was assistant professor of religion at Columbia University, NYC, USA, specializing on Buddhism and Indochinese studies. Among his students at Columbia were Thích Nhất Hạnh "Thầy" (b. 11 Oct. 1926, Hue,… Read more

Pierre Le Roux is a French ethnologist, professor at Université de Strasbourg, the editor of Jean Boulbet's autobiography (posthumous) third volume, De palmes et d'épines (2009), and a researcher on the lives and works of several ethnologists who have been active in Southeast Asia, including Jean… Read more

Alexandra Denes is a socio-cultural anthropologist specializing in heritage issues in Southeast Asia based in Thailand for over two decades, a Senior Research Associate and the Director of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and Museums Field School, the Culture and Rights Project, and the Visual… Read more

Loup Durand (1933, Flassans-sur Issole, France - 18 April 1995, Paris) was a French crime and adventure writer who himself quite an adventurous life, traveling the world and working as barman, docker, flight attendant, interpreter, and as a reporter for UPI and The Washington Post, and published… Read more

Eugene-Albert Puyon, comte de Pouvourville, known as Albert Pouvourville or under his pen name Matgioi or Mat-Gioi -- probably from Vietnamese mắt giỏi, "sharp eye" (7 Aug. 1862, Nancy, France - 30 Dec. 1939, Paris) was a French orientalist, army officer and Foreign Legion soldier, Indigenous Civil… Read more

Gustave Coquiot (24 Sept 1865, Puits, France – 6 June 1926, Paris) was a French art critic, writer and dramaturgist who befriended major artists of his time, including Auguste Rodin -- to whom he served as private secretary --, Pablo Picasso, Paul Matisse. Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Paul… Read more

Thierry Bayle (b. 27 Feb. 1959, Paris) is a French former journalist, a writer, teacher, and currently cultural attaché at the French Embassy in Thailand since 2020..In addition to various publications in French print and audio media (Libération, France Culture, Globe-Hebdo, Lire, Créations,… Read more

Robert Chauvelot (  was a French colonial administrator, novelist and travel writer who visited Cambodia and Angkor around 1924, part of an extended trip across the Far East.A member of the Conseil supérieur des Colonies (Grand Council of the Colonies), a professor at Paris College des sciences… Read more

Yuthlert Sippapak ยุทธเลิศ สิปปภาค  (b.. 8 Nov. 1966, Loei, Thailand) is a Thai film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for genre-blending films Killer Tattoo (comedy and action) and Buppah Rahtree (comedy and horror).After studying fine arts and interior design at Silpakorn… Read more

Dr Wanrug Suwanwattana is a Lecturer in French Language and Literature at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand, after completing her PhD at the University of Oxford (Merton College). She is working on fin-de-siècle French literature and Indochina, focusing on… Read more

Martin Hürlimann (12 November 1897, Zürich, Switzerland - 4 March 1984, Zürich), was a Swiss publisher, musicologits and self-taught photographer who visited extensively Asia in the 1920s and 1930s, including Cambodia.In 1929, he founded the magazine Atlantis in Berlin, specializing in countries,… Read more

Louis Gascuel (23 Dec. 1865, Alès, France - 12 March 1939, Alès, France) was a mining civil engineer and alumni of École Polytechnique (year group 1885) who visited Cambodia in 1905, on his way to the Hin Boun (Hinboun) tin mines in central Laos, close to the Thai border.From 1896 to 1923, he… Read more

Pierre-Médard Diard (19 March 1794, Saint-Laurent-en-Gâtines - 16 Feb 1863, Sumatra or Jakarta, Indonesia) was a French naturalist and explorer who studied zoology and anatomy under Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), and traveled to the East Indies in 1817, age 23, spending most of his natural life in… Read more

Phuoeng Sophean ភឿង សុភ័ណ្ឌ (23 April 1958, Siem Reap - 6 Oct. 2020, Phnom Penh) was a Cambodian architect and statesman who initiated the restoration of the Iron Palace at the Phnom Penh Royal Palace in 1991. A son of a renowned Siem Reap architect, he developed a special interest in architectural… Read more

Steve McCurry (b. 1950, Philadelphia, USA) is a professional photographer whose work in rebel-controlled areas of Afghanistan prior to and after the 1979 Russian invasion -- including the iconic "Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl"(1984), which was a National Geographic cover photo --, and again after the… Read more

Lucretia Stewart (1952, Singapore) is a journalist and travel writer who visited Cambodia in 1990.After spending much of her early life in Singapore and China as the daughter of a diplomat, she started writing for the New Review, Brides magazine, the Evening Standard, Harpers & Queen, and… Read more

Luciano Perez-Rivera Santiago (21 June 1942 – 1 Feb 2019) was a Filipino writer, historian, and psychiatrist known for his books and articles on Philippine history and the arts.An alumnus of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila, he trained at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt… Read more