Tetso College holds talk on creative writing

Students and others with Inakali Assumi during the talk on ‘Memory, nostalgia and orality in creative writing’ held at Tetso College on March 12. (Photo Courtesy: Tetso College) 
 

Dimapur, March 12 (MExN): Tetso College, Dimapur in collaboration with DOT Talks conducted a session on writing for Tetso students titled ‘Memory, nostalgia and orality in creative writing’ with Inakali Assumi, Assistant Professor, St John College, Dimapur and writer at the college auditorium on March 12.

Assum’s debut book titled “Potpourri Poesy”, which she co-authored with Soyimla Akum, was published in 2018 by Cyberwit Publications.

Commenting on her latest book titled ‘The Yellow Dress’ which was published by PenThrill Publications on February 29, Assumi shared that she started working on it in 2018 and took a year to complete. The book is a collection of 16 short stories which “shifts from the innocence of childhood to the realities of adult life,” she added.

Quoting Dr Kevizonuo Kuolie’s comments on the book, Assumi highlighted that ‘The Yellow Dress’ encompasses stories “from childhood to old age, from comic to tragic plots, from light to darker themes” and asserted that the characters in the book are very dear to her and hoped that the readers will be kind to them.

Inakali shared that she mainly draws inspiration from memories, dreams and imagination in her process of writing. “Memories play a crucial role in our lives and are the storehouses of all the good and bad days we have seen and experienced,” she stated, adding that memories are potential stories which we often choose to keep to ourselves and intrigues us to think about the past with a sense of nostalgia and longingness. 

Assumi stated that memory and orality are interconnected especially in the Naga context which is why we feel at home when we hear folktales or listen to folksongs, she opined. She challenged the audience to utilize the oral form of storytelling into writing which has been passed down from our forefathers in order “to preserve what is almost on the verge of being lost and forgotten.” This she said was imperative to let the world know about the Naga way of life and culture through writing.

Creative writing should come from within the person and is something which cannot be forced upon, she asserted, and said that she prefers writing that is simple, clear and easy to understand. While encouraging the students to read as much as possible, Assumi expressed optimism that the younger generation has taken to reading on a much larger scale nowadays. “The more we read, the more we grow,” she maintained.
The session was followed by interaction.