Chamnongsri Rutnin

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Chamnongsri Rutnin Hanchanlash (born 1939) is a Thai writer, social advocate, and public figure. She chairs Rutnin Eye Hospital in Bangkok, serves as a Senior Advisor to Thailand’s Health Promotion Board, and founded Cheevamit Social Enterprise to improve end-of-life care in the country. She also started the Uthai Rutnin Foundation to support ophthalmology knowledge after her husband’s death and now leads its board.

Early life and career
She studied in England and returned to Thailand at age 18, working as a reporter and columnist for an English-language newspaper. She married ophthalmologist Uthai Rutnin (died 1993), and together they established the Rutnin Eye Hospital in Bangkok.

Philanthropy and advocacy
After her husband’s death, she expanded her social work. In the 1990s, she founded Harbor House Foundation in Chiang Rai to help girls at risk of human trafficking and worked with the Thailand Institute of Justice on domestic violence issues. In January 2017, she launched Cheevamitr Social Enterprise to promote end-of-life care. Her Facebook page Chamnongsri Hanchanlash/awareness focuses on thoughtful aging and dying and has a wide following.

Personal life
She married Dr. Jingjai Hanchanlash in 1997.

Writing and translation
Originally a poet and short-story writer, she later wrote plays, children’s literature, essays, and biography. Much of her work reflects Buddhism and meditation. She has translated Thai literature into English.

Awards
- John A. Eakin Foundation Award
- National Book Award for Children’s Literature

Selected works
- Where Dusk Ends (play) – John A. Eakin Foundation Award winner
- On the White Empty Page (poetry, English)
- Fon Tok Yang Tong, Fa Rong Yang Thueng (Touched by rain, reached by thunder) (Thai poetry)
- Kaewta’s Horizon (play)
- Orange-8-Legs (children’s literature)
- Gecko Gup (children’s literature)