VERONIQUE RENARD NEWS, PRESS & MEDIA PAGE

Out of Asia.

2011-07-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Pantau (Veronique Renard), has moved from Bangkok, Thailand to the Bilthoven Woodlands in Holland. After living in Bangkok for nearly 5 years, the author and Tibet-activist decided it was time for something new. Before settling in Bangkok, Pantau lived in the Indian Himalayas for 7 years and was a student of the Dalai Lama. In 2006, she moved to Bangkok and married a Chinese Thai surgeon and partnered with a Chinese math professor, all residing in Bangkok.

"My life has come full circle. In the Alchemist, Santiago left his home and travelled to unknown territories before he was able to return home with wisdom and find a treasure... and love," Pantau stated. "I haven't returned to my home town in the Netherlands, but a much nicer place. I am creating a Japanese Bungalow and Garden in the woodlands of the Utrecht Hill Ridge Nature Reserve. I still need a lot of Asia in order to feel home in Holland."

Pantau is working on a new novel that she plans to finish within the next year.

Jonathan Blair

(Spokesperson Pantau Foundation New York - Dharamsala)

Pantau Foundation's new management

2010-10-28T12:02:00.001-07:00

The Pantau Foundation has a new management team responsible for raising funds and day-to-day management. Veronique Renard (aka Pantau) founded the organisation to help Tibetan refugee children on May 26, 2000. The Foundation sponsors Tibetan orphans and children of poor families living in India. The foundation pays for their education, food, toys and clothing. Most children are between the age of 5 and 16 but the organisation has also helped a few Tibetans by paying for their university education in India. The Foundation currently sponsors about 140 children.

Veronique moved from India to Thailand in the fall of 2006 and was no longer able to take care of the foundation's daily activities. Long-term friend and spokesperson of the foundation, John Blair, who resides in India took over the organisation's management who mostly received funds from philanthropists in the United States. Today the management of the organisation has been transfered to the Parker Bond Charity in New York, while day-to-day activities are still being handled by John Blair from his base in Dharamsala.

We wish to thank Bobbie John Parker Jr. and Sebastian Bond for their initiative to take over the foundation's responsibilities.

Interview Amsterdam FM Radio

2010-10-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Veronique (aka) Pantau is expected to give an interview on Amsterdam FM Radio on Thursday 9 December 2010 between 12.00 and 13.00 hrs. Host: Bert van Galen. Pantau is expected to speak about her current experiences living in Thailand and reflect on the 7 years living in the Indian Himalayas in the hometown of the Dalai Lama.

Pantau signs new book-deal with PD Publishing USA

2009-11-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

The Pantau Foundation is pleased to announce that Veronique Renard (a.k.a. Pantau) and PD Publishing USA have signed a book-deal to publish a second edition of her 2007 memoir PHOLOMOLO - No Man No Woman. The new edition is expected to be published in March 2011.

Here is a link to a video of Veronique signing the contract
http://www.youtube.com/user/taubangkok#p/a/u/0/e71hnX8j_Q4

Here is a link to PD Publishing's website
http://www.pdpublishing.com/

Jonathan Blair (spokesperson Pantau Foundation)

AUTHOR HARASSED BY CHINESE SECURITY POLICE

2008-08-18T03:44:00.000-07:00

photo: Veronique Renard and Chen Hao

INTERNATIONAL

PRESS RELEASE
Bangkok, 18 August 2008
By Jonathan Blair

DUTCH AUTHOR/TIBET ACTIVIST VERONIQUE RENARD HARASSED BY CHINESE SECURITY POLICE AND FORCED TO MAKE FALSE STATEMENTS

Author and pro-Tibet activist Veronique Renard and her partner were repeatedly harassed by the Chinese Security Police during their recent holiday in China.

Ms Renard, a Dutch national living in Thailand, and her partner, Mr Chen Hao, a Chinese national who is a professor in Bangkok, travelled to China on holiday. Ms Renard had no intentions to protest or demonstrate against the Chinese Government’s occupation of Tibet or the Olympic Games and carried no items associated with Tibet or the Dalai Lama.

Ms Renard and Mr Chen arrived at Shenzhen International Airport and were immediately treated with great suspicion at passport control, including intensive questioning and a thorough luggage search. Near Mr Chen’s home in Shenzhen, Chinese Security Police monitored their movements continuously.

While at a Shenzhen karaoke club, uniformed police stormed in and issued a warning for lewd behaviour, followed by a phone interrogation by a Shenzhen Immigration official the next day and a summons to the main police station. After being questioned for several hours, Ms Renard was warned that she might not be allowed to leave the country without their special permission. The couple’s photos and fingerprints were taken and both Ms Renard and Mr Chen were forced to make false statements, articulate pro-China sentiment, express their loyalty to the Chinese Government, and denounce the Dalai Lama and the concept of a free Tibet. During the ordeal, the couple learned Ms Renard’s name appeared as #95 on the notorious Chinese blacklist of about 6500 non-Chinese citizens, though she was marked as unarmed and not dangerous. Ms Renard decided to cut her trip short and left China the same night with the first available flight from Hong Kong.

2007-05-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

VERONIQUE RENARD'S FOLLOW-UP MEMOIR PHOLOMOLO RELEASED IN USA / UNITED KINGDOM

Veronique Renard's latest memoir, PHOLOMOLO – NO MAN NO WOMAN has been released in the USA / United Kingdom in June 2007. Copies of the book are available in the USA at Barnes and Noble bookshops or can be ordered at Amazon USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan. Copies ordered by clients at Amazon or any other internet retailer outside North/South America are distributed from England. Veronique's books are banned in China.

"A delightfully funny, unabashedly erotic and deeply moving portrait" Andrea James (Hollywood director/editor)

"Pholomolo isn't the first memoir of a boy who became a woman. But Veronique Renard is the only one who became an author long before she decided to write about her corporeal journey" (Henk Roozendaal, the author of Katoi - An Unusual Love)

Some customer reviews (Amazon):
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This is the best, most enjoyable memoir I've read. Well over most I've encountered about the subject of transsexualism. Veronique is a superb story teller, very humorous at times, as well as painfully serious. Her honesty and directness is refreshing. She holds nothing back. She also has a commanding use of language, even though English isn't her mother tongue. If you are looking for a concise introduction into the world of authentic humanity I urge you to read this book. It isn't just about being born with a "birth defect" as the author artfully refers to it, it is about recognizing ones blessed uniqueness and how that uniqueness constuctively informs all of us. I hated finishing it. I sincerely hope this author will publish more. She has something we all can benefit from. Thanks Veronique (Pantau) for being bold enough to share your soul.
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Pholomolo is the phenomenal life, so far, of a Dutch woman who grew up as a boy suffering schoolyard taunts and bullies until she had surgery at age 18. She then earned a PhD and worked up the corporate ladder until giving it all up to move to India. After a plane crash in the Himalayas, she spent seven years living as a neighbor of the Dalai Lama who bestowed a name upon her. A most fascinating read!!
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Veronique Renard is a woman who has experienced a lot, both good and bad, in her life, and in this book she tells it honestly and without dissimulation. I was impressed. I do not usually feel much sympathy with post-op trannies, most of their problems being self-inflicted in my view, and my own girlfriend being non-op. However Veronique explains her thoughts and feelings so well that you can not help feeling kindly towards her. Her command of English is also good, despite a few tiny slips. On the whole a rewarding read and recommended.
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Pantau's (Veronique) attitude through-out the book was both entertaining and genuine. Although as children and early teens she and I had many different experiences, I discovered that we shared a similar theme of our life during that period. Our reactions were totally different due to our unique environments growing up. Sharing her story was re-affirming for me because I could identify with the way she lived her life. She and I and I'm sure many others share similar hopes and dreams about how our lives will turn out. I was impressed with how she created purpose and meaning in her life. She is an inspiration and this book is a must read for trans-sexuals, their friends, families and anyone else interested in what life is like for us from the moment we discover who we really are to whatever point we are today. I felt a whole range of emotions reading about her life from laugh out loud silliness to the despair and fear that we all feel at various points in our lives. Her's is a truly interesting story of what she created for herself and how she met her challenges all along the way. She reminded me that I can make something of my life regardless of my "special" circumstances and most importantly, to keep dreaming.
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What a tremendous read. I highly recommend. The other reviews pretty much tell the story. Veronique made me laugh she made me cry. My heart so reached out for her. The writing is superb. She makes you feel like you are with her as she goes through her journey. I actually kissed the front cover of the book. Absolutely awesome!!!
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Veronique (AKA Pantau) transitioned early in life, and several decades ago. The discrimination that she faced in her home country of the Netherlands seemed surprising to me, except in the context of time. Surely things have gotten better there now. The author's storytelling skills are excellent. She recreates details of emotion and time and place as if she were a fiction writer, thus keeping my interest level high. I cheered for her when she was compensated (out of court) for the discrimination that she repeatedly suffered in high level employment. I was afraid for her when she was confronted for using the restroom in a bar. I was continually amazed at her nearly pornographic stories of her many sexual escapades; she is fearlessly candid. She learned that stealth was her best defense. But when she looked for more meaning in her life, she found herself in India where the Dalai Lama lives. The monks there teach her that a life of authenticity is the most valuable, fulfilling life one can lead. She comes to terms with the reality that she is a transsexual, not just a woman: "a special type of woman". Thus she is finally able to meet the man of her dreams because she was finally true to who she really is. The last section of the books takes place in Thailand. It's a fascinating culture with a greater population of transsexuals than anywhere else, and though there is still some prejudice it is truly different from any other place on the planet at the current time. Pantau's glimpse at that life is sweet. As the wife of a M2F transsexual, I have read quite a few TS biographies. This one is stronger than most.
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2007-05-25T14:28:00.001-07:00

PANTAU IN INDIA RELEASED IN USA / UNITED KINGDOM

News Release
Dharamsala, 16 January 2007
By Jonathan Blair.

An updated English edition of Veronique Renard's popular memoir, Pantau in India, has been released in the USA and is now for sale at Barnes & Noble bookshops or at Amazon USA, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. Copies ordered outside North/South America through online retailers are distributed from the United Kingdom. Veronique's books are banned in China.

Some customer reviews on Amazon

A blessed life.
A Dutch woman tells the story of her life with all its ups and downs. She starts out a material girl climbing the corporate ladder while training for a berth on the Dutch Olympic sculling team. Setbacks in both push her to the brink of suicide but, ultimately, she decides to go to India. After several adventures, she lives in sight of the Dalai Lama's residence for seven years. What she learns about herself and the world will surely astound the reader! She displays a remarkable facility with the English language even though it is not her native tongue. The rare british usage is decipherable and in no way obscures her meaning. This is the powerful story of an amazing life.

2007-05-25T14:27:00.001-07:00

28/SEP/06 TIMES OF INDIA (national newspaper)
PANTAU: SEVEN YEARS IN INDIA. "VERONIQUE RENARD: DUTCH AUTHOR OF THE BEST-SELLER PANTAU IN INDIA"
Interview with the author who is going to leave India after seven years, for a new book project that will lead her to Thailand.
Interview: Sunita George

2007-05-25T14:26:00.002-07:00

00/SEP/06 MONITOR (magazine)
"SEVEN YEARS AMONG THE TIBETANS"
After seven years living among the Tibetans in the Indian Himalayas, Dutch author, Veronique Renard, is going to move to Bangkok, Thailand for an exciting new book adventure. Renard states: "It was easier to move from Europe to India, than from India to Thailand. I have had so many great experiences in the Himalayas. I will miss all my friends here, but most of all, my most important teacher, H.H. the Dalai Lama."
Interview: Ravinder Kumar

2007-05-25T14:26:00.001-07:00

00/00/2005 HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE (Geluk is een Besluit)
Writer/journalist and TV-researcher, Rose Mary De Boer, composed an impressive book with interviews featuring Veronique Renard and seventeen Dutch celebrities speaking about their views on happiness. Inspiring conversations about choices, power and vulnerability. ISBN: 90 453 0060 5 Published by Bzztoh Publishers, the Netherlands. Price: € 14,95 Pages: 144. Form: hardbound with silk cover

2007-05-25T14:25:00.001-07:00

24/AUG/2005 DUTCH BUDDHIST BROADCAST FOUNDATION. Dutch Buddhist Broadcast Foundation recorded a special radio programme with Veronique on 2 June 2005. The programme was broadcast on 24 August 2005 (16.00 hrs. on 747AM) or via internet at http://www.boeddhistischeomroep.nl/.

2007-05-25T14:21:00.001-07:00

MAY/2004 ONKRUID Magazine
Coverstory "Serving Tibet and the Dalai Lama. (Veronique Renard: Leven in dienst van Tibet en de Dalai Lama)"
Interview: Rose Mary de Boer

2007-05-25T14:18:00.001-07:00

APR 2004 AZIË Magazine
"Travel experiences with Veronique Renard (Het reisgevoel van Veronique Renard)"
Interview: Rose Mary de Boer

2007-05-25T14:11:00.001-07:00

00/FEB 2004 TOP SANTE Magazine
"The writer and the Book. A portrait of Veronique Renard (De schrijver & het Boek. Portret van Veronique Renard)”
Interview: Marga van Doorn

2007-05-25T14:10:00.003-07:00

FEB/04 HAPPINEZ Magazine
Coverstory "Meeting the Dalai Lama. Four people and their experiences meeting the Dalai Lama. Veronique Renard, Richard Gere and others. (Ontmoetingen met de Dalai Lama. Een viertal personen die een persoonlijke ontmoeting hadden met de Tibetaanse leider; Veronique Renard, Richard Gere, Annette den Ouden en Patty Harpenau doen hun verslag.)"
Interview: Wija Oberman

2007-05-25T14:10:00.001-07:00

02/DEC/03 HET NIEUWSBLAD (Belgium)
"Veronique Renard fights for the plight of the Tibetans (Veronique Renard strijdt voor de Tibetanen)"
Interview: Dirk Moorsel

02/DEC/03 HET VOLK (Belgium)
"Veronique Renard fight for the plight of the Tibetans (Veronique Renard strijdt voor de Tibetanen)"
Interview: Dirk Moorsel

2007-05-25T14:09:00.003-07:00

00/NOV/03 KRO RADIO"Verum Bonum Pulchrum"
Radio interview: Louis Houet

2007-05-25T14:09:00.001-07:00

19/NOV/03 BILTSE & BILTHOVENSE COURANT
"Veronique Renard writes to help the Tibetan plight. (Veronique Renard schrijft om Tibetanen te helpen in hun strijd)"
Interview: Anneke Iseger

2007-05-25T14:08:00.001-07:00

13/NOV/03 HAAGSCHE COURANT
"Pantau at home in Dharamsala. (Pantau komt thuis in Dharamsala)"
Interview: Jacques Geluk

2007-05-25T14:07:00.001-07:00

10/OCT/03 ASPEKT PUBLISHERS RELEASES PANTAU IN INDIA IN THE NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM.

UITGEVERIJ ASPEKT PUBLICEERT PANTAU IN INDIA IN NEDERLAND EN BELGIE.

Wat enkele lezers vinden van Veronique's Pantau in India (www.Bol.com).

Boequetreeks? Zeer zeker niet! Veronique's Pantau in India is een boek dat mijn leven heeft veranderd. Het boek leest zo lekker weg en raakt elke menselijke emotie. Ik kon het niet wegleggen en heb het aan al mijn vrienden laten lezen. Iedereen was het er mee eens. Het was voor velen het beste boek dat ze in jaren hadden gelezen. Dit boek zal ik mijn leven blijven herinneren. Ik heb ook de Engelse versie gelezen dat nog zelfs beter is en maarliefst 100 paginas langer. Wat een bijzondere vrouw. Jammer dat we nog maar zo weinig van haar horen in de Nederlandse media. Ze heeft ons iets te leren.
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Klinkt veelbelovend, maar is niet meer dan een bouquetreeks, waarvan je de geloofwaardigheid nog in twijfel kan trekken ook.
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Veronique Renard is niet alleen een geweldige schrijfster, ze weet ook hoe je een interessant leven kunt creeren. Veel bewondering voor de wijze waarop ze haar persoonlijke verhaal vertelt. Ik heb gehuild en gelachen. Een boek dat me heel lang zal bij blijven. Het zet je aan het denken over hoe wij ons leven leiden. Ik ben er van overtuigd dat veel lezers met Veronique in hun hoofd naar kantoor gaan. Ik in ieder geval wel. Pantau is een boek dat ik "helaas" in een keer heb uitgelezen maar gelukkig mijn leven zal veranderen.
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Dit boek veranderde mijn leven. Ik heb veel spirituele boeken gelezen maar Veronique presenteert haar verhaal op zo'n heerlijk leesbare manier dat ik het niet weg kon leggen. Ik heb het in twee dagen uitgelezen. Ik vond het jammer dat het na 260 pagina's al uit was. Dit is een boek dat ik me over tien jaar nog zal kunnen herinneren.
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Prachtig mooi boek, zo geschreven dat je het je heel goed in kunt beelden en precies het plaatje voor je krijgt waar zij het over heeft. De onderwerpen die aan bod komen in het boek zijn erg herkenbaar. Echt een aanrader als je geinteresseerd bent in het Oosten, India, Tibet en het Boedhisme.
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2007-05-25T14:06:00.003-07:00

00/OCT/03 RADIO SOEST
Radio interview

2007-05-25T14:06:00.001-07:00

23/SEP/03 RADIO AMSTERDAM
Radio interview: Bert van Galen

2007-05-25T14:05:00.003-07:00

12/SEP/03 RTV UTRECHT
"Utrecht Centraal"
Television interview: Michael Magielse

2007-05-25T14:05:00.001-07:00

09/SEP/03 RADIO RIJNMOND
"Rotterdam Hier!" Radio interview: Chris Vemers

2007-05-25T14:04:00.003-07:00

05/SEP/03 RTV UTRECHT "De Stem van M"
Radio interview: Iris Tasseron

2007-05-25T14:04:00.001-07:00

13/SEP/01 VOLKSKRANT
"A new mission with the Dalai Lama. (Een nieuw levensdoel bij de Dalai Lama)"
Interview: Sacha Kester

2007-05-25T14:02:00.001-07:00

00/AUG/01 UTRECHTS NIEUWSBLAD
"Veronique Renard finds happiness in the Himalayas (Veronique Renard vindt het geluk in de Himalaya)"
Interview: Leo Fun

2007-05-25T13:56:00.001-07:00

23/AUG/01 MOLENKRUIER
"Veronique Renard find happiness in the Himalayas (Veronique Renard vindt het geluk in de Himalaya)"
Interview: Leo Fun

2007-05-25T13:53:00.001-07:00

02/JUL/01 HAAGSCHE COURANT
"Happiness on top of the Himalayas (Geluk op de top van de Himalaya)"
Interview: Harald Doornbos

2007-05-25T13:52:00.001-07:00

00/JUL/01 GPD/21 regional newspapers."Happiness on top Himalayas (Geluk op de top Himalaya)"
Interview: Harald Doornbos

2007-05-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

00/JAN/01 PILGRIMS PUBLISHERS RELEASES FIRST LIMITED ENGLISH EDITION OF PANTAU IN INDIA

2007-05-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

00/JAN/01 PILGRIMS PUBLISHERS RELEASES THE FIRE OF HELL

2007-05-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

00/DEC/00 EVEREST PRESS NEW DELHI RELEASES PANTAU IN DHARAMSALA.