ITANAGAR, 14 Mar: The Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society (APLS) has established a mini-library at the Arunachal Bhavan in New Delhi.
Inaugurating the library on Wednesday, APLS president and Sahitya Akademi Award winner Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi said, “This mini-library will be helpful to give the visitors a firsthand experience of literature of Arunachal Pradesh.”
The mini-library has over 100 books, most of them authored by Arunachali writers. Guests staying at Arunachal Bhavan can borrow books from the reception counter after registering their names and room numbers, the APLS informed in a release.
The inauguration programme was attended by Dr Jamuna Bini, Dr Taro Sindik, and Inumani Das Bora on behalf of the APLS central executive committee.
Members of the Delhi APLS branch also celebrated its first foundation day at Arunachal House in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, on Wednesday.
A literary event was organised as part of the celebration, during which creative presentations were submitted by Nikita T, Pillai Wangsu, Rajiv Ranjan Ray, Kausik Bramha, and Gandhi Riyang.
Delhi APLS branch member Gandhi Riyang performed “a dance-play on ‘Ridi Doying’ – an endangered style of dance of the Adi community, narrating the story of the origin of the divine ridin (sacred band) of Donyi Poloism,” the release stated.
The celebration was attended by Thongchi, Dr Bini, Dr Tumbom Riba, Wanggo Socia, Likha Caral, Arunachal Bhavan Special Resident Commissioner Mitali Namchoom, Arunachal Bhavan Resident Tourism Officer Adong Moyong, NSD Assistant Professor and Delhi APLS branch president Riken Ngomle, Delhi APLS branch general secretary Jummi Yomcha, Delhi APLS branch assistant general secretary Jummi Yomcha, Lopa Rebi Kojum, and others.
Thongchi informed that “this year the Sahitya Akademi has invited 10 writers from Arunachal Pradesh in the ongoing Festival of Letters-2024.”
The invited writers are Thongchi, Mamang Dai, Dr Bini, Kaling Borang, HR Bado, Gyati Rana, Gankhu Sumnyan, Dr Taro Sindik, Tumbom Riba, and Wanggo Socia.
Thongchi and APLS general secretary Mukul Pathak congratulated Tamil writer Kannaiyan Daksnamurthy and Mamang Dai, as the former has won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award-2023 for translating the novel The Black Hill, authored by Dai, into the Tamil language.
The Black Hill is a “gripping story of tribal communities, interwoven with the turbulent journey of a French Jesuit priest in Northeast India, written by Mamang Dai, the first Sahitya Akademi Award winning writer from Arunachal. In 2021, Assamese writer Pori Hiloidari won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award for translating Dai’s another novel, Legends of Pensam into the Assamese language.
Congratulating Dai on her outstanding literary works, Thongchi said that “winning two Sahitya Akademi Awards by translating Mamang Dai’s books itself is a remarkable journey of Arunachal literature from the state to the outside world, which is promoting Arunachal Pradesh effectively through literature,” the release stated.
