Easterine Kire

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Easterine Kire
Born (1959-03-29) 29 March 1959 (age 66)
Kohima, Nagaland (Union Territory) (Now Kohima, Nagaland, India)
Occupation
  • Author
  • poet
Alma mater North-Eastern Hill University
Period1982–present
Genre
SpouseKaka D. Iralu
(died 2020)
Children3

Easterine Kire is an Naga poet and author from India who currently lives in northern Norway. The majority of her writings are based in the lived realities of the people in Nagaland in Northeast India. Apart from writing, she also performs Jazz poetry with her band Jazzpoesi.

Contents

Early life

Easterine Kire was born on 29 March 1959 in Kohima to an Angami Naga family from Kohima Village. She did her schooling in Baptist English School.[ citation needed ] She went to pursue her undergraduate study in Shillong from North-Eastern Hill University, [1] followed by a course in journalism in Delhi.[ citation needed ] She received a doctorate in English literature from Savitribai Phule Pune University. [2]

Books

Kire's motivation to write is summed up in her statement, "I felt we needed to create written Naga Literature. We have so much oral narratives but with oral dying out, it's all going to be lost." [3] Majority of her writings are based in the lived realities of the people in Nagaland in north-east India. [4] Apart from bringing a focus on the vibrant Naga culture, Kire's work has also brought out the realities which have changed the lives of Naga women. [1]

In 2003, she wrote the first Naga novel in English, entitled, A Naga Village Remembered published then by Ura Academy. [1] It documents the cultural and social history of the Angami Naga community living in Khonoma through the British invasion of the territory, advent of Christianity, and subsequent modernity. Thereby, the novel spans from 1832 to 1900. [5] The novel was republished by Speaking Tiger Books in 2018 as Sky is my Father: A Naga Village Remembered [1] gaining it wider readership.

Her second novel was A Terrible Matriarchy published in 2007. It highlights the internal and social strife that grips Nagaland as a state in India. [6] It was republished by Zubaan Books in 2013. This was followed by Mari (2010). It is a novel based on the Japanese invasion of India in 1944 via Nagaland. [7] Her subsequent novels include, Bitter Wormwood (2011) which was shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize in 2013, Don't Run, My Love (2017), and Walking the Roadless Road: Exploring the Tribes of Nagaland (2019).

Her latest book "Spirit Nights" was published in 2022. [8] She has also written children's books, articles and essays. Her first children's book in English was published in 2011. Kire has also translated 200 oral poems from her native language. [9]

Poetry

Kire published her first book of poetry in 1982 titled Kelhoukevira, roughly translated as 'the place of a better life.' Many of the poems in the book portal the violence in Nagaland at the time. Naga academic Theyiesinuo Keditsu notes, "[The book] is an outcome of the poet's gendered positioning in the discursive Naga universe," where women are delegated to write poetry rather factual nonfiction account of people's situation. However, Kire's embracing of this form of literary work also allows her to escape state censorship. Kelhoukevira was the first book of Naga poetry published in English. [10]

Kire also performs Jazz poetry with her band Jazzpoesi in Norway. [2]

Publishing

Kire is a founder member of Barkweaver Publications which publishes folk tales, original research, and life stories of the Naga people. [2]

Awards and recognitions

In 2011 Easterine Kire was awarded the Governor's Medal for excellence in Naga literature.

In 2013 Kire was awarded the ‘Free Word' prize by Catalan PEN, Barcelona. [1]

In 2015 her novel When the River Sleeps was awarded The Hindu Literary Prize. [11]

In 2018 Easterine Kire poem "Son of the Thundercloud" has been awarded Bal Sahitya Puraskar by Sahitya Academy.

In 2024 her novel Spirit Nights won Sahitya Academy Award in 2024. [12] [13]

"A Terrible Matriarchy" was selected to be translated into UN languages. Furthermore, the books "A Terrible Matriarchy", "Mari", "Forest Song", "Naga Folktales Retold" and "A Naga Village Remembered" have been translated into German.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Karmakar, Goutam (2 October 2022). "Revisiting the Ideological Stance of Naga People: An Interview with Easterine Kire" . South Asian Review. 43 (3–4): 366–372. doi:10.1080/02759527.2021.1886408. ISSN   0275-9527.
  2. 1 2 3 "Easterine Kire". Barbican Press . Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  3. ↑ Arora, Kim (9 January 2012). "'Big Indian publishing houses don't think the northeast will sell'". The Times of India . ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  4. ↑ "Easterine Kire — Author | The Hindu - Lit For Life". thehindulfl.com. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Mandal, Sanatan; Singh, Smriti (2022). "Asserting Naga cultural identity and challenging colonialism in Easterine Kire's Sky is My Father: A Naga Village Remembered" . AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. 18 (1): 203–209. doi:10.1177/11771801221088603. ISSN   1177-1801.
  6. ↑ Subhra Roy (July 2015). "Gender Politics & Discrimination in Post-Colonial Nagaland with Special Reference to Easterine Kire's A Terrible Matriarchy" (PDF). languageinindia.com. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  7. ↑ Arnapal, Maisnam. 2023. “Gender, Indigeneity, and History: The Battle of Kohima in Easterine Kire’s Mari” in Keeper of Stories: Critical Readings of Easterine Kire’s Novels edited by VeioPou. Tromsø: The Highlander Books. 147-157.
  8. ↑ "Barbican Press | Spirit Nights". barbicanpress.com. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  9. ↑ "Easterine Kire | Zubaan". zubaanbooks.com. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  10. ↑ Keditsu, Theyiesinuo (2023). "Naga Writings in English – Coming into One's Own" . South Asian Review. 44 (3–4): 258–266. doi:10.1080/02759527.2022.2152966. ISSN   0275-9527.
  11. ↑ "Lit for Life: The Hindu Prize for 2015 goes to Easterine Kire". The Hindu. 16 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Datta, Sudipta (24 December 2024). "The Hindu On Books newsletter: Easterine Kire wins Sahitya Akademi award, Kiran Desai's new novel and more". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  13. ↑ PTI (20 December 2024). "Naga writer Easterine Kire's "Spirit Nights" wins Sahitya Akademi Award 2024 in English language". Nagaland Tribune. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
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