Gauhati University also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly and is the oldest university in Northeast India.
The culture of Assam is traditionally a hybrid one, developed due to cultural assimilation of different ethno-cultural groups under various political-economic systems in different periods of its history.
Rebati Mohan Dutta Choudhury was a noted Assamese litterateur, Sahitya Akademi Award winner and an academician from Gauripur in Assam, India. Popularly he is known as Sheelabhadra, his pen name.
Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya was an Indian writer. He was one of the pioneers of modern Assamese literature. He was the first ever Assamese writer to receive the Jnanpith Award, which was awarded to him in the year 1979 for his novel Mrityunjay (Immortal), followed by Indira Goswami in 2001. He was also a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese in 1961 for his Assamese novel Iyaruingam, which is considered a masterpiece of Indian literature. In 2005, a translation of the work published by Katha Books with the title Love in the Time of Insurgency was released. Another famous novel written by Bhattacharya is Aai (Mother).
Arun Sarma was a writer of Assam. Arun Sarma was one of Assam's contemporary playwrights and is particularly known for his unconventional plays with some elements of drama. Besides drama, he also authored over six novels detailing the Assamese way of life. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2010 in recognition of his contributions to Assamese literature. He has also been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1998 for the novel Ashirbadar Rong. He has won the Asam Sahitya Sabha's Best Playwright Award for two consecutive years and also has the rare distinction of having won the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2003 for his contributions to drama and the Sahitya Akademi award in 1998 for literature. He was also the recipient of the Assam Valley Literary Award in 2005.
Rita Chowdhury is an Indian poet and novelist who writes Assamese literature and is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award. She is the editor of the Assamese literary magazine Gariyoshi and a former director of the National Book Trust, India. She has been a professor and lecturer at Cotton College, Guwahati, Assam in the Political Science Department and was active in the Assam Movement in the early 1980s.
Jonbeel Mela is a three-day annual indigenous Tiwa Community fair held the weekend of Magh Bihu at a historic place known as Dayang Belguri at Joonbeel. It is 3 km from Jagiroad in Morigaon district of Assam and 65 km from Guwahati. The National Highway connecting the mela is NH 37. The Joonbeel is so called because a large natural water body is shaped like a crescent moon.
Literature from North East India (Assamese: উত্তৰ-পূৱ ভাৰতৰ সাহিত্য is literature in the languages of North East India and the body of work by English-language writers from this region. North East India is an under-represented region in many ways. The troubled political climate, the beautiful landscape and the confluence of various ethnic groups perhaps have given rise to a body of writing that is completely different from Indian English literature. North-East India was a colonial construct and continues to be one by virtue of having a historically difficult relationship with the Indian nation state.
Dhrubajyoti Bora, a medical doctor by profession, is a Guwahati-based Assamese writer and novelist. In a literary career spanning around three decades he has published many critically acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction including more than twenty four books – Novels, monographs on history, travelogues, collection of articles etc. Most notably, he was honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009.
The Tiwa people, are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group primarily inhabiting the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, and some parts of neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Dimbeswar Neog (1899–1966), also known as the Indradhenu Poet, was a renowned writer, literati, critic, educator and poet of Assamese literature.
Nalini Bala Devi was an Indian writer and poet of Assamese literature, known for nationalistic as well as mystical poetry. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1957 for her contribution to literature, and 1968 she won the Sahitya Akademi Award given by Sahitya Akademi for her poetry collection Alakananda. She is the first woman Assamese poet to be awarded with Padma Shri and the first lady to the chair the Assam Sahitya Sabha.
Saurabh Kumar Chaliha is the pen name of a famous Assamese short story writer. His real name was Surendra Nath Medhi. His short story collection Ghulam won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1974. Chaliha did not go to receive the award himself and it was later sent to him by the Akademi.
Chandraprabha Saikiani or Chandraprava Saikiani was an Assamese freedom fighter, activist, writer and social reformer considered to be the pioneer of the feminist movement in Assam. She was the founder of The All Assam Pradeshik Mahila Samiti, a non governmental organization working for the welfare of the women of Assam and was a recipient of the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri for the year 1972 from the Government of India. Three decades later, the Indian government issued a commemorative stamp on Saikiani under the series, Social Reformers, in 2002.
Dr. Dinesh Chandra Goswami is an Assamese writer and winner of the Sahitya Akademi's Bal Sahitya Puraskar for 2014.
Nirupama Borgohain is an Indian journalist and novelist in the Assamese language. She is a Sahitya Akademi award winner, best known for her novel Abhiyatri. In the year 2015, she decided to return her Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the rising intolerance in the society. She was a recipient of the Assam Valley Literary Award.
Medini Mohan Choudhury, known by his pen name as Medini Choudhury, was a Bodo novelist, short story writer, columnist, critic and a retired civil services officer. He wrote thirty books in Assamese language and two books in English, including Ananya Prantor, a novel which is recognized one of the prominent writings in Assamese literature.
Purabi Bormudoi was an Indian writer in the Assamese language, known for her social and periodical novels and short stories. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in the Assamese language in 2007 for her novel Shantanukulanandan, a saga of the mighty Brahmaputra River
Rashmi Narzary is an Indian writer of Bodo origin, who writes in English language. She is best known for her children's book His Share of Sky (2012), for which she won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2016.
Jungal Balahu was a Tiwa king in medieval Northeast India around 1365-1385 A.D. The kingdom was in present-day Raha, Assam ruled by the Tiwa people (India). A statue of Jungal Balahu is erected in Jungal Balahu Garh. It is a tourist destination,
