Mamang Dai
Mamang Dai | |
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 Mamang Dai at Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi; March 2023 | |
| Born | 23 February 1957 Pasighat, East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India |
| Occupation | Poet, Novelist, Journalist |
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| Nationality | Indian |
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| Notable awards |
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Mamang Dai is an Indian poet, novelist and journalist based in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. She received Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her novel The Black Hill.
Life
Mamang Dai was born on 29 February 1957 at Pasighat, East Siang district, to Matin Dai and Odi Dai. Her family belongs to the Adi tribe. She completed her schooling from Pine Mount School, Shillong, Meghalaya. She completed her Bachelor in English literature from Gauhati University, Assam.[1][2]
She was selected for the IAS in 1979, but later she left the post to pursue her career in journalism. She is the first woman from her state to be selected for IAS.
She was appointed programme officer at Worldwide Fund for Nature, known as WWF, where she worked in the Eastern Himalayas Biodiversity Hotspots programme. She was the former secretary of Itanagar Press Club. She was the president of Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUW).[2] In 2011, she was appointed a member of Arunachal Pradesh state public service commission.
Works
Her non-fictional works include Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land (2003) and Mountain Harvest : The Food of Arunachal (2004). The Sky Queen and Once Upon a Moontime (2003) are illustrated folklore texts by her. She published her first novel, The Legends of Pensam in 2006, which was followed by Stupid Cupid (2008) and The Black Hill (2014) Escaping the Land (2021). River Poems (2004), The Balm of Time (2008) Hambreelmai's Loom (2014), Midsummer Survival Lyrics (2014) are her poetry collections. The Balm of Time was also published in Assamese as El Balsamo Del YTiempo.[1]
When she began writing, she wrote romantic verse and stories. She then moved from the theme of the self to focus on a larger reality. She reflects upon the sense of a close knit community living in remoter towns and villages.[6]
Some of the positions that she has occupied include General Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society, member of the North East Writers’ Forum and General Council member of the Sahitya and Sangeet Natak Akademi.[4]
Awards
She received Padma Shri in 2011 from the Government of India. The government of Arunachal Pradesh conferred on her annual Verrier Elwin Prize in 2013 for her book Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land.[2][7] She received Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her novel The Black Hill.[8]
See also
- Indian English Literature
- Literature from North East India
References
- ^ S2CID 134637086.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-8069-300-7. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
- ^ "Mamang Dai – Publishing Next". www.publishingnext.in. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
- ^ a b "Mamang Dai (poet) - India - Poetry International". www.poetryinternationalweb.net. Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
- ^ "RædLeafPoetry-India – The Phenomenal Woman- An interview of Mamang Dai by Ananya Guha". rlpoetry.org. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
- ^ "The Land as "Living Presence" (article) - India - Poetry International". www.poetryinternationalweb.net. Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
- ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ "Arunachal author Mamang Dai among 24 winners of 2017 Sahitya Akademi awards". scroll.in. scroll.in. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
External links
- Interview in Thanal Online
- Poetry and the Northeast: Foraging for a destiny
- Negotiating Change With Memory
- Works by Mamang Dai at Google Books
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