Easterine Kire has been awarded the Hindu Prize, 2015

On Saturday, January 16, Easterine Kire, novelist and poet, was awarded the Hindu Prize, 2015 at the Lit for Life festival in Chennai. She received the prize for her novel When the River Sleeps, which recounts the story of a hunter’s search for a faraway river from which he hopes to collect a powerful stone.

Fellow writer Alexander McCall Smith presented Kire with the prestigious award, which includes a citation and a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh. The event, organized by The Hindu was held at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall in Chetpet. Shortlisted out of nearly 60 entries, Kire was awarded the sixth edition of the prize.

After reading an excerpt from her novel, Kire made her acknowledgements stating, “It’s not really my book – a lot of people embrace it as their book and I want to thank all my beautiful readers.” She describes her new novel as an exploration of the Naga spirit universe, which is a continued examination of the mystery that characterizes Nagaland.

Easterine Kire is a former guest writer of Tromsø city of refuge. Originally, she hails from Nagaland where she was forced to flee her home due to attacks and harassment by local authorities threatened by her political writings. In 2005, after receiving information about ICORN, Kire became Tromsø’s first resident. In one year of residency, Easterine Kire was able to author six books, two of which were published in 2006. After spending 10 years in exile, Easterine returned to her home county in 2015.

She is the author of several books written in English including three collections of poetry and short stories. In addition, Kire has published over 200 oral poems from her native language Tenyidie into English. Easterine Kire authored A Naga Village Remembered, the first Naga novel published.

Please find here a link to the original article announcing the award by The Hindu.