Mamang Dai | |
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 Mamang Dai atSahitya Akademi, New Delhi; March 2023 | |
| Born | (1957-02-23)23 February 1957 (age 68) |
| Occupation | Poet, Novelist, Journalist |
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| Nationality | Indian |
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Mamang Dai (born 23 February 1957) is an Indian poet, novelist and journalist based inItanagar,Arunachal Pradesh. She receivedSahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her novelThe Black Hill.
Mamang Dai was born on 23 February 1957 atPasighat,East Siang district, to Matin Dai and Odi Dai. Her family belongs to theAdi tribe. She completed her schooling from Pine Mount School,Shillong,Meghalaya. She completed her Bachelor in English literature fromGauhati University,Assam.[1][2]
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.[3] While working as a journalist, she contributed toThe Telegraph,Hindustan Times andThe Sentinel.[4] She has also worked in radio, as well as TV-AIR and DDK, Itanagar where she worked as an anchor and conducted interviews.[5][6]
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).[2] In 2011, she was appointed a member of Arunachal Pradesh state public service commission.
Her non-fictional works includeArunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land (2003) andMountain Harvest : The Food of Arunachal (2004).The Sky Queen and Once Upon a Moontime (2003) are illustratedfolklore texts by her. She published her first novel,The Legends of Pensamin 2006, which was followed byStupid Cupid (2008) andThe 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 asEl Balsamo Del YTiempo.[1]
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.[7]
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.[5]
She receivedPadma Shri in 2011 from the Government of India. The government of Arunachal Pradesh conferred on her annual Verrier Elwin Prize in 2013 for her bookArunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land.[2][8] She receivedSahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her novelThe Black Hill.[9]
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