Tales of a Dalai Lama

Pierre Delattre is a writer and painter living in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in northern New Mexico between Santa Fe and Taos. Tales of a Dalai Lama was his first book of fiction, followed by Walking On Air, and Episodes, a memoir. He has published stories, poems and essays in many magazines, and has just completed a book of essays entitled The Art of Beauty. Pierre Delattre's paintings have been on exhibit in several galleries in and around Santa Fe, and at his home studio in Penasco, where he lives with his wife, the painter Nancy Ortenstone. Mr. Delattre took his graduate degree in Religion and the Arts from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and has been involved in the relationship between art and spirituality ever since, including work in theatre, music, television and film, with emphasis on spiritual humor.

Pierre Delattre's joyful book, Tales of a Dalai Lama, records earthbound flights of the spirit, like a bridge over silence. Here is a work of fiction with language simple and beautiful, detailing the structure of the faith of the Tibetan people as seen through the eyes of the awestruck, funny, and wise Dalai Lama, sometimes old and sometimes young. Here is fiction at its best, sure in its footing, centered in writing as an art, fulfilling its own functions and overcoming its own obstacles, bearing the reader along a path of zen grabbers, belly laughs, and glimpses of enlightenment while experiencing the nobility of faith." - Ed Swan, Pacific Northwest Review of Books