Guwahati: Mamang Dai to Receive Xahitya Surya Lummer Dai Memorial Award

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Axam Xahitya Xabha (AXX) has announced that it will confer the prestigious Xahitya Surya Lummer Dai Memorial Award on noted author and Padma Shri awardee Mamang Dai. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on June 1 in Arunachal Pradesh to mark the 85th birth anniversary of literary icon Lummer Dai. AXX President Dr. Basantakumar Goswami will present the award.

Mamang Dai, an acclaimed poet, novelist, and journalist, is celebrated for her significant contributions to Indian literature and education. She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2011 and received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her novel ‘The Black Hill’.

Born on February 23, 1957, in Pasighat, East Siang district, to Matin Dai and Odi Dai, she became the first woman from Arunachal Pradesh to be selected for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1979, a position she later resigned from to pursue a career in journalism and writing.

Her journalism career includes contributions to national dailies such as The Telegraph, Hindustan Times, and The Sentinel. She has also worked with All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan Kendra (DDK), Itanagar, as an anchor and interviewer. Dai has served with the World Wildlife Fund and was a member of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.

Her notable non-fiction works include Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land (2003) and Mountain Harvest: The Food of Arunachal (2004). In the realm of folklore, she authored The Sky Queen and Once Upon a Moontime (2003). Her fiction titles include The Legends of Pensam (2006), Stupid Cupid (2008), The Black Hill (2014), and Escaping the Land (2021). Her poetry collections include River Poems (2004), The Balm of Time (2008), Hambreelmai’s Loom (2014), and Midsummer Survival Lyrics (2014). The Balm of Time was also translated into Assamese.

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