Windborne: Contemporary Assamese Fictions in Translation

Angana Choudhury (b. 1981): Angana Choudhury’s short story collections include Konthagoto Pran, Panbazar Dotcom, Enekoiye Prem, and Mayamoi Mahanagaree. She has written a travelogue titled Jibon Ek Bedouin. She has authored two volumes of poetry for children titled Moi Eti Jonaki Porua and Phulor Dore Pokhir Dore, and two short story collections for children titled Konlorar Sopun and Seuj Nagarit Okonihot. In 2015, she won the Anju Chhetri Bezborua Sahitya award for her children’s novel Ramdhenu Boronia Dinbur. She is also the recipient of the Sodou Asom Kobi Sanmilon Srestho Pandulipi (best manuscript) award (1992) and the prestigious Assam Publication Board award for the best short story.

Apu Bharadwaj (b. 1980): Apu Bharadwaj was born in Bokakhat, Assam. He worked as the Deputy Editor of Satsari magazine for some time and later gained recognition as a talented writer. In 2012, he was awarded the Munin Barkotoki Literary Award for his collection of short stories titled Mastiscar Cinema, which is given to young Assamese writers under the age of 35. In 2021, Apu published his next collection of short stories, Aji Galpo Kom. In 2023, he expanded his writing repertoire by publishing children’s poetry titled Laklou Padya.

Apurba Kumar Saikia (b. 1962): Apurba Kumar Saikia is one of the most prominent names in contemporary Assamese short fiction. He has published seven collections of short stories, namely Byortho Natok (1998), Bixoi: Premor Xangbidhan (2000), and Bengsata (2016). He was honored with the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in 2020 for Bengsata.

Atanu Bhattacharyya (b. 1967): Atanu Bhattacharya is a writer, editor, and storyteller. After quitting his teaching job, he pursued journalism and is now the executive editor of Satsari magazine. He has gained recognition for his poetry and short stories, with four books published in each genre, as well as other collections of creative essays and interviews. Bhattacharya is an influential figure in contemporary Assamese literature. His published volumes include Ubhatani Jatra Aru Ananya Galpo (2004), Nilar Karone Alop Bhalpowa (2006), Baraxunar Setar (2008), Senkur (2013), and Raghunath, Kapor Pindha (2021).

Bipasha Bora (b. 1986): Bipasha Bora is a well-known young voice in contemporary Assamese fiction. She published her first collection of Assamese short stories, Mou-Makshi Samrajya (“Kingdom of Bees,” Akhor Prakash, Guwahati), in 2014, which won her the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2018. Her second collection, Thaoliplingak Manuhe Pahari Pelaise (“People Have Forgotten Thaulipling,” Aank-Baak, Guwahati), was published in 2018 and her first novel Jakaranda came out in December 2022. Her short stories have appeared in Bosoror Galpa 2014, 2015, and 2018, the prestigious yearly collections of selected short stories in Assamese, published by Aank-Baak, Guwahati. Bipasha regularly contributes fiction, poetry, and essays to various anthologies, Assamese literary journals, and dailies. She is also a regular writer of a popular column, titled “Pratyashar Path,” in Janambhumi, the renowned Assamese weekly. Bipasha completed her MA in cultural studies from Tezpur Central University, and now works as a full-time writer. She currently lives in Guwahati, Assam.

Dalim Das (b. 1982): Dalim Das teaches English at the Institute of Open and Distance Learning, Gauhati University (GUIDOL). His published volumes include Kalika Laga Xajor Katha (2012), an anthology of Assamese short stories selected and edited by him and Bikalpa Kabitar Prastawana (2012), a critical work on Assamese poetry (co-authored with Dr. Debabhushan Bora). He is best known for his short story collection Hari Jadu Madhu, which won the Munin Barkotoki Literary Award in 2017.

Manika Devee (b. 1979): Manika Devee was born in Mangaldai. A postgraduate in English with an additional B.Ed degree, she is a teacher by profession. Her previously published anthologies include Priyo Aalap, Xakhiyoti, Moidamor Junaki, Johor Mohor, Baanpani Aahisi Somake Bhomake, Burhatuwe Kole, the Igloo, and Boitoroni. She received the 2005 Munin Barkataki Award for Priyo Aalap and the Yuva Sahitya Akademi award in 2014 for Johor Mohor. She also received the Padmashree Jugal Kishor Choudhury Memorial Award in 2015.

Manoj Kumar Goswami (b. 1962): Manoj Kumar Goswami is one of the foremost contemporary writers of Assam. Emerging as a young writer in the 1980s when the valley was in the doldrums due to a prolonged agitation against illegal immigrants, he immediately caught attention with his analytical insight into the characters he portrayed, the cinematic language he used, and the diverse subjects he chose. He won the Katha Award for Creative Fiction in 1994, and the Sanskriti Award for Literature in 1996. Goswami started his career as a journalist, and currently he is the editor-in-chief of the Assamese daily Amar Asom and DY 365, a satellite television channel in North East India.

Prasanta Kumar Das (b. 1971): Prasanta Kumar Das is a senior journalist at the Sadin Group of Publications, Assam. He was one of the fin de siècle young writers whose writings mirrored the political unrest triggered by insurgency at the turn of the twentieth century. Subsequently, he has established himself in the Assamese literary scene with such volumes of short fiction as Eta Sadiyar Galpa, Aanto Prithivir, Othello, April, Kahini Etar Kahini, The Downtown, and Galpabur, among others. In 2012, he received the national Best Young Writer award from Indian Express. In 2016, he was awarded the Dainik Asom literary award for his collection Galpabur.

Sanjib Pol Deka (b. 1985): Sanjib Pol Deka has been editing a bi-yearly magazine on society, literature, and culture titled Aalaap since 2017. His published works include authored books like Eipine Ki Ache? (2010, a short story collection for which he won the prestigious Munin Barkotoki Literary award given to promising young writers under age 35), Barmajhili (2020, short story collection) and edited volumes, namely Swarnalata Rayar Arhi Tiruta aru Anyanya Racana (2019, “Swaranalata Ray’s Exemplary Women and Other Essays”) and Asam Andolanar Galpa (2023, an anthology of short stories on the Assam Agitation). He currently teaches in the Department of Assamese, Tezpur University, Assam.

Swati Hazarika (b. 1984): For the last decade, Swati Hazarika has been working in PHED, where she is entrusted with the responsibility of creating awareness among the masses regarding sanitation, waste management, clean drinking water, and good health in general, in her district. She lives in Biswanath Chariali with her 10-year-old daughter, husband, and cats. She used to be a writer for one and a half years (2005–2007) when she wrote micro-fiction published in Satsori and other newspapers. She gained a little bit of fame or something akin to fame for those diverse-themed stories. Now, when she is not in the office, cooking meals, or tending to her little world, she dabbles in art, wood, clay sculpting, and music; watches anime and Brian Greene videos; reads about Vedanta and religion; and soaks in the poems of Wislawa Szymborska.

Anindita Kar (b. 1990): Anindita Kar is a translator and researcher from Kaziranga, Assam. She speaks three languages in her day-to-day existence, and translates from two of them—Assamese and Bengali—into the third, English. She also writes poems and short fiction. Her work appears or is forthcoming in several journals and online magazines such as Indian Literature, Muse India, Poetry at Sangam, and The Antonym, edited volumes such as Routledge Writer in Context, and anthologies published by Jadavpur University Press and Zubaan.

Daradi Patar (b. 1993): Daradi Patar is a freelance translator currently based in Guwahati. A post-graduate in molecular biology and biotechnology from Tezpur University, and a former publishing professional at the leading international academic publishing house, Taylor & Francis, Daradi has now found her way back to her passion of many years, translation. She has previously worked as a translator for reputed publishers like Storytel India, Banphool Publication, and also for the popular music label Project Baartalaap. She is also a translator for an upcoming trilingual anthology due for publication end of 2023, which is the first of its kind in the Tiwa language. In addition to being a language and a music enthusiast trained in Indian classical music, she is also a recorded vocalist with an indie low-fi solo, “Eibeli” and has sung a playback for the gritty crime web series, Kolongpar.

Harsita Hiya (b. 1995): Harsita Hiya, currently pursuing her PhD in English Literature from the Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, is a writer, translator, and short fiction lover from the town of Nagaon, Assam. She holds degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and Ramjas College, University of Delhi. Her work has previously been featured in Words Without Borders, Muse India, and the Little Journal of North East India. Grandmother’s Tales, her English translation of Lakshminath Bezbaruah’s Burhi Aair Sadhu, was published by Akhar Prakash in 2020. She is the winner of the Jibanananda Das Award for Translation from Assamese into English by the Antonym Magazine, awarded during the Kolkata Poetry Confluence 2022. She was a contributing translator of the Write Assamese Project, a collaboration between Untold, UK, and Bee Books, India, that culminated in the 2023 Anthology A Fistful of Moonlight (published by Bee Books in India and Maclehose Press in the UK).

Stuti Goswami (b. 1987): Stuti Goswami, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of English, the Assam Royal Global University, Guwahati. She has delivered talks and chaired academic sessions at several national and international conferences and has substantial academic and creative publications to her credit, in Assamese and English (both in original and in translation). As a co-editor/editor, she has worked on the following publications: Essentially Speaking: Biographical Snapshots (2015, Gauhati University Press), Warp and Weft: Makers of Modern Assam (2018, National Book Trust), Pollen Grain (2022, Red River, Delhi), and Beseiged (2023, Assam Institute of Translation, Asam Sahitya Sabha).

Anindita Kar (b. 1990): Anindita Kar is a translator and researcher from Kaziranga, Assam. She speaks three languages in her day-to-day existence, and translates from two of them—Assamese and Bengali—into the third, English. She also writes poems and short fiction. Her work appears or is forthcoming in several journals and online magazines such as Indian Literature, Muse India, Poetry at Sangam, and The Antonym, edited volumes such as Routledge Writer in Context, and anthologies published by Jadavpur University Press and Zubaan.