Mamang Dai is an Indian poet, novelist and journalist based in

Itanagar Itanagar () is the capital and largest town of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The seat of Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the seat of government of Arunachal Pradesh, and the seat of Gauhati High Court permanent bench at Naharla ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...

. She received Sahitya Academi Award in 2017 for her novel ''The Black Hill''.

Life

Mamang Dai was born on 23 February 1957 at

Pasighat Pasighat is the headquarters of East Siang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Situated at the eastern foothills of the Himalayas at above mean sea level, Pasighat is Arunachal's oldest town. The Government of India included Pa ...

, 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 Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...

. She completed her Bachelor in English literature from

Gauhati University Gauhati University, also known as GU, is a Collegiate university, collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assem ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. 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. While working as a journalist, she contributed to

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

and ''The Sentinel''. She has also worked in radio, as well as TV-AIR and DDK, Itanagar where she worked as an anchor and conducted interviews. 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). 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 Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

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''. 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. 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.

Awards

She received

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

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''. She received Sahitya Academi Award in 2017 for her novel ''The Black Hill''.

References

External links

Interview in Thanal Online

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dai, Mamang 1957 births Writers from Northeast India English-language poets from India Writers from Arunachal Pradesh Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education 20th-century Indian poets Indian civil servants Living people People from Itanagar People from Adi Community Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English 21st-century Indian novelists Adivasi women writers

Life

Works

Awards

See also

References

External links