Mamang Dai poet, novelist and journalist from Arunachal Pradesh speaking at the creative writing workshop on October 29. (Morung Photo)
Creative Writing Workshop for Naga Languages enters day two
Morung Express News
Kohima | October 29
Impressing upon the need for something more beyond the classroom text, Mamang Dai today remarked that “overall there is no environment for retrieving your mother tongue also because of the digital world.” The poet, novelist and journalist from Arunachal Pradesh was speaking on the topic “Finding the Word” at the three-day creative writing workshop for the Naga Languages that is currently underway at Nagaland University.
She said that it is really a losing pattern now basically because the environment is not there and reiterated the need for that environment and family support for use of mother tongue. “It’s not as if you are going to write a novel or a book in your mother tongue but you have the passage,” she put across. Mamang Dai, who also received Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her novel ‘The Black Hill’, regretted that “in Arunachal Pradesh, we are rapidly losing all mother tongues. However, she commended the Tenyidie Department saying that it is doing a huge and important project to save Nagaland in this respect.
She further observed that there are now lots of new books put together by different publishing houses dealing with prose and poetry written by many young authors. She called upon aspiring writers “to be true to yourself and in the process of writing, if you listen carefully while moving towards a certain page or line, you will find a part of your authentic self. You will get that honesty of feeling.”
Stating that the region is in a transformative transitional process where a lot of young people are writing, she also commented, “I think it's wonderful that we have so many languages that are still alive in different pockets of North East.”
The session was chaired by Nigamananda Das. This was followed by another session on “Poet: The Unacknowledged Legislator” with Madhu Raghavendra as the resource person and Beni Yanthan as the chairperson. In the session 6 under the topic— “Writing for Social Media: The Politics of Pith & Popularity”, Feminist Poet & Educator, Theyiesinuo Keditsu was the resource person while Kethokhrienuo Belho chaired the session.
The day two of the Creative Writing Workshop for the Naga Languages also comprised of Readings and Interactive session.
