Poetry

“The mountain child—a fragment of the mountain—plays in the lap of the mountain / Toddling up the mountain / he plants his feet in the mountain soil / to rise like a mountain / in the land of mountains” – Excerpt from “Mountain Child”, a Santali poem by Nirmala Putul who questions ‘development’ and ‘progress’ in modern civilization
https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poems/18/Mountain_Child
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=11376

“We now had history on our side”: Poet Kamal Kumar Tanti on his search for identity – From Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to the tea gardens of Assam

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The Assamese poet Kamal Kumar Tanti won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in the year 2012 for his book of poems, Marangburu Amar Pita. The phrase “Marangburu amarpita” can be roughly translated into English as “Marangburu, my father”. Marang Buru is the highest deity among some Adivasi communities of eastern and central India who follow … Read more

Vibrant contemporary writing from the north-eastern region: Overcoming marginalisation of culture and literature

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The poets from the north-eastern region have to meet the double challenge of truth and liberty, of identity and unity, of cultural loss and recovery, of ethnic specificity and aesthetic universality. ONLY in the last one decade or so has the vibrant contemporary writing from the north-eastern region written in many languages, including English—Assamese perhaps … Read more

Poet and novelist Mamang Dai: A member of a tribe of “ten thousand messengers / carrying the whispers of the world” – Arunachal Pradesh

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Mamang Dai (India, 1957) is a poet and novelist. She lives in Itanagar in the North-east Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. She has one collection of poetry, River Poems, to her credit. Her next collection, Midsummer-Survival Lyrics, is due for publication in 2011. She writes in English. […] Dai’s poetic world is one of river, forest and … Read more

Video | Setu “bridge” on Adivasi poet and publisher Jeetendra Vasava belonging to the Narmada region – Gujarat

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The clip is called Setu, meaning bridge and features Jeetendra Vasava, a young writer belonging to the Narmada region in south Gujarat. Jeetendra speaks Dehwali, a tribal language spoken in regions of south Gujarat and northern Maharashtra. Jeetendra is a faculty member at the Adivasi Academy, Tejgadh. In the clip he speaks of oral traditions, the … Read more

A poem by Maori writer Hone Tuwhare (1922-2008)

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A Rainy Day with Hone Tuwhare Hotere: Out the Black Window. Ralph Hotere’s Work with New Zealand Poets. Auckland Art Gallery / Toi o Taamaki, 4 July – 9 September. I can hear youmaking small holesin the silencerain. Rain. It started early that morning: dark, blustery rain. As I drove to meet Hone Tuwhare in … Read more