Galsan Tschinag is the author of a trilogy of autobiographical novels about the Tuvinian community of nomadic herders in the High Altai Mountains of western Mongolia. Tschinag was trained as a shaman as a boy, and has worked as a journalist. He has published more than thirty books, mostly short fiction, novels, and poetry. In 1995, Tschinag, as chieftain of his people, negotiated a land claim treaty with the Mongolian government. He then led the Tuvinians, who, a generation before had been dispersed all over Mongolia, back to their traditional lands in the High Altai mountains. Today, Tschinag divides his time between Ulaan-Bataar where he writes, the High Altai where he lives, and Germany where he works.
