Guwahati, May 23: Renowned poet, novelist, and journalist Padma Shri Mamang Dai will be honoured with the prestigious Sahitya Surja Lummer Dai Award on June 1 at a ceremony in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. The event, organized by the Asam Sahitya Sabha to mark the 85th birth anniversary of Assamese literary icon Lummer Dai, will be held at Gandhi Secondary School, Tin Ali. The award will be presented by Asam Sahitya Sabha president Dr. Basanta Kumar Goswami.
Announcing the award, Sabha principal secretary Debajit Bora said, “The award to Mamang Dai will strengthen the bond of brotherhood between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.”
Mamang Dai, born on February 29, 1957, in Pasighat, East Siang district, belongs to the Adi tribe. She was the first woman from Arunachal Pradesh to be selected for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1979, though she left the post to pursue journalism and literature. Over her distinguished career, she has contributed to The Telegraph, Hindustan Times, and The Sentinel, and worked in radio and television with AIR and DDK Itanagar.
A recipient of the Padma Shri (2011) and Sahitya Akademi Award (2017), Mamang Dai’s literary works span fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and folklore. Her notable books include:
Novels: The Legends of Pensam, Stupid Cupid, The Black Hill, Escaping the Land
Poetry: River Poems, The Balm of Time, Hambreelmai’s Loom, Midsummer Survival Lyrics
Non-fiction: Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land, Mountain Harvest: The Food of Arunachal
Folklore: The Sky Queen, Once Upon a Moontime
Dai has also served in key positions, including General Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society, President of Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists, and Member of the Sahitya and Sangeet Natak Akademi General Council. She was a Programme Officer at WWF, focusing on the Eastern Himalayas Biodiversity Hotspots.
The Lummer Dai Award recognizes her powerful voice and contributions to literature that bridge personal experience with the collective memory and cultural identity of the Northeast.
Her selection, approved during a Sabha meeting chaired by Dr. Goswami, marks a celebration not only of her work but also of the enduring literary and cultural ties between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
