Shillong, Feb 11: A national symposium on poet and fiction writer Temsula Ao, who was also a professor of English at North-Eastern Hill University, was held at the university campus on Monday.
The event was organised by the Department of English, NEHU in collaboration with Sahitya Akademi.
Born in 1945, Temsula Ao was the first woman Anglophone author from the North East to receive Sahitya Akademi award in 2007 for her book Laburnum for My Head and Padma Shri award in 2013 for her contribution to literature and education.
She is well-known for her books of poems and collections of short stories such as These Hills Called Home and The Tombstone in my Garden: Stories from Nagaland and her works have been translated into Assamese, Bengali, French, German, Hindi, and Kannada.
In her inaugural address of the symposium, Prof Malashri Lal, national convener of the English Advisory Board of Sahitya Akademi, highlighted the important contributions Temsula Ao made to North East literature. She said Ao opened up the stories of the North East to the rest of the world.
In his introductory remarks, Prof. Jyotirmoy Prodhani described Ao as the great matriarch of Northeast literature and highlighted how the story of her life was equally powerful and inspiring for all.
The Dean of Humanities, Prof Moon Moon Mazumdar, as the chair of the first academic session spoke about Ao as a writer and described her as one of the most important voices from the North East. She also recalled her association with Temsula Ao as the professor of English and the Dean of Humanities at NEHU.
In the session, Prof Mala Renganathan discussed the various dimensions of Temsula Ao’s short stories when Prof. Desmond Kharmawphlang recalled his experiences with Professor Ao as a teacher and later as a fellow poet who shared her interest in music with him.
Prof Esther Syiem, who presided over the valedictory session, described her memoir, Once Upon a Life: Burnt Curry and Bloody Rags as a significant literary achievement that narrated the stories of universal predicaments of a woman.
Prof K C Baral, former Director of EFLU Shillong and former Pro-Vice Chancellor of EFLU Hyderabad in his Valedictory address, read by Dr. Preetincha Barman, explored the rich body of her literary works as a poet and a critic.
In her concluding remarks Dr Setolu Tunyi paid a rich tribute to Temsula Ao as the most important woman voice of Nagaland. Krishna Kimbahune of Sahitya Akademi, who moderated the online event, described the symposium as a fitting tribute to the great author who redefined the way marginal voices narrate their tales from the periphery.
