Khamla Panyasouk

Khamla is the original owner and publisher of Big Brother Mouse. He was born in 1983 in the village of Khon Kham, about 50 km from Luang Prabang. He started school when he was eight and was the first in his family to learn to read. More about Khamla

Kham

Kham finished secondary school without any interest in reading. Then Khamla brought her some fun books from Thailand (Big Brother Mouse hadn't published any books yet) and now she loves to read. More about Kham

Souliphone

How do you say "mosquito" in Lao sign language? Pinch the back of your left wrist, then quickly swat that spot. Souliphone came to work at Big Brother Mouse as an artist. He is deaf and uses sign language, so sometimes he went to our village book parties and give a sign language lesson to children. They loved it, and now he teaches sign language at our Big Sister Mouse school. More about Souliphone

Link

Like his older brother Khamla, Link spent many of his teenage years as a Buddhist novice. He worked hard to learn English, and puts his bilingual skills at work laying out books. But the book parties, where rural children see those books for the first time, are the high point of his week. More about Link

Vannaled

What would you grab first if your house was on fire and you were five years old? Vannaled's choice tells something about him. More about Vannaled

Sonesoulilat

At age 16 Sonesoulilat, usually known as Sone, organized our first rural book party. That rapidly grew into what we now call the Joy of Reading project, through which we provide books to rural villages and schools. He has written two songs about books that we teach to children, and five books. More about Sone

Siphone Sengvandy

Khmu was Siphone's family language when he was a boy, but he didn't learn to write it until he came to Big Brother Mouse, and began collecting traditional Khmu folktales. That was also the first time he saw a book with color pictures. More about Siphone

Ounla

Ounla doesn't merely help Big Brother Mouse. He drew Big Brother Mouse. Whatever personality you see in our mascot's twinkling eyes and upturned nose, Ounla put it there. More about Ounla

Siphone Wuttisakdy

There was no school, television, radio, or books where Siphone was born. For entertainment, he listened to fairy tales told by his grandfather. Now, Siphone likes to retell those traditional Lao tales, and his many of his books are among our most popular titles. More about Siphone

Vannaly

We met Vannaly when she set up a home-based library in her village, with support from Big Brother Mouse. Through her efforts, it became a busy spot. More about Vannaly

James (as in: Bond)

No martini jokes, please! James was only 16 when this was written, or at least that was his best guess, but he could already speak three quite different languages, design eye-catching book covers, and play the kaen. And a couple years later, he'd written his autobiography, which you can read. More about James

Visone

Sasha Alyson

After running several businesses in the United States, Sasha first visited Laos in 2003. He never saw a single book in Lao on that visit, and that's when he got the idea for Big Brother Mouse. He now lives in Laos as a volunteer advisor for the project. More about Sasha

Bounyang

Not long ago, everyone agreed that "Lao People don't read." Bounyang not only loves to read; currently he's reading the same book for the third time, because he wants to be sure he understands it all. It's a book you know, and you'll be surprised at what it is... More about Bounyang and what he's reading

Nawla

Try to write a book of fun rhymes - using only letters that start with A or B. That's roughly the challenge Nawla faces when she writes books for the easiest level in our "I Can Read!" series. That's not all she's written. More about Nawla

Seng Dao

Dao means "star" in Lao. Dao loves children as much as they love him, and when he has time to help at our book parties, he's always a star. He's also a talented artist, who was flown to Japan to receive one of his prizes. More about Dao

Gikong

Gikong was one of the first artists we hired. His strong sense of composition shines through in the pictures he drew for a book about Hmong culture and customs, that we will publish as a trilingual Lao, Hmong, and English book. Now he's taking on new responsibilities. More about Gikong

Sakdaphone

Sakdaphone grew up in the city, and didn't know how to ride a buffalo until he was 11! Since then, he has developed not only that skill, but also his considerable talents for both writing and drawing. More about Sakdaphone

Chittakone

Since winning our second art contest, at age 14, Chittakone has illustrated many of our books, as well as writing one. He has developed a range of art styles. More about Chittakone

Thongkham

One of our earliest staffers, Thongkham compiled an alphabet book with several humorous pictures for each letter of the Lao alphabet. When it was published, he made a request that we believe has never before been said by an author. Find out what he said

Boom-Boom

Boom-Boom is special in many respects. She's the biggest member of the Big Brother Mouse family. She's also the only one who can carry enough books for 6 villages, while still being able to pick up a banana with her nose. More about Boom-Boom