8-year-old, Sofia Livimi Swu's book 'My Adventure in Christmas Land’ was released at the first Nagaland Literature Festival in Kohima on December 3. (Morung Photo)
First edition of Nagaland Literature Festival begins
Morung Express News
Jotsoma | December 3
“We are the present, umbilicaly connected to our past, and at this present time, we are respectfully learning to draw from the lessons of our past in order to hopefully engender a more understanding future.”
Celebrated author and poet, Easterine Kire said this while delivering her keynote address at the first edition of the Nagaland Literature Festival which began at RCEMPA, Jotsoma under the theme ‘Through the Looking Glass: Traversing the Past, Present and Future’ on December 3.
She observed that “we are writing ourselves and we are rewriting our history, not in a Hindutva manner, but by using a Nagacentric lens to chronicle and set right our very misunderstood and misinterpreted past.”
Kire said that “writing ourselves” is a “movement towards our psychological, intellectual and emotional sovereignty.” “We are interrogating, resisting and blasting stereotypical versions of our people and cultures that held sway as far back as our first contact with the western world.”
Kire pointed out that colonial stereotyping paved the way for Indian administrators and mainstream media to construct a Naga identity far from the truth. “We are grateful for the early writings on us but admit they were done from a flawed perspective. Still we are grateful for the historical information they collected on us. Our job now is to correct erroneous interpretations of our cultures and we do that by writing ourselves,” she added.
She noted that cultural a theft has taken place over several years by non-Naga scholars, where Naga intellectual and cultural property has been stolen. “A consequence of theft is that the thieves dictate our cultures to our children because they claim to be the experts having stolen our property,” she said. Kire called for resistance to this by “putting back value into what was devalued.”
Consul General of Germany, Kolkata, Manfred Auster formally declared the festival open by inaugurating the Art Exhibition, Book Corner and Stalls. He commended the organizers—Writers Collective, and stated that the different elements of the Literature Festival “can contribute to someone like me from the other end of the world to know more of Nagaland, of the Nagas, the society back in the past, the society now and the society in the future.”
He further hoped to impress upon the Cultural Institute of Germany—the Max Mueller Bhavan in Kolkata to find possibilities of exchanges in literature with the state.
In her welcome address, author, Avinuo Kire noted that the theme of the first ever Nagaland Literature Festival is an extract from the sequel of Lewis Carroll’s beloved classic, Alice in Wonderland. A ‘looking glass’ may be understood as a metaphorical expression for looking into the mysterious unknown, and also at the same time, it represents our literature as a mirror reflection of the collective Naga experience - past, present and future, she said.
Rev Kedo Peseyie, Pastor, City Church Kohima pronounced the prayer for the festival while the event saw spoken poetry by Christina Suohu & Marüni Kadete, and ‘Kelhou Kevira’ by Petsüsetuo Liezietsu and Khrieyie Belho.
The Art Exhibition displays the works of Seyie Tepa, who has been painting for more than three decades and was also a recipient of the Governor’s Award for excellence in Art (2008). Publishers including Barkweaver, Heritage, PenThrill Publication and two other stores--The Common Room and ‘Love, Stitch, Weave’ are part of the two day literature festival.
‘My Adventure in Christmas Land’ by 8-year-old Sofia Livimi Swu released
As part of the Nagaland Literature Festival, ‘My Adventure in Christmas Land’ by 8-year-old, Sofia Livimi Swu was also formally released by Bano Haralu. The newly released title, published by PenThrill Publication House is the second book in her adventure series. The child author had made her debut with ‘My Adventure in Fairyland’ earlier this year in March while she was seven years old.
Sofia has 3 younger brothers and is currently studying at Bumblebee Inclusive School, Upper Agri Kohima. Some of her interests are reading, writing stories and poems. She loves to draw apart from playing the piano and singing. Her other hobbies are making arts and crafts and working on science experiments. Her favourite animals are dinosaurs and unicorns. She likes riddles too and watching creative channels on YouTube and her favourite colours are pink and white.
The brief book launch was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Literature and Politics’ with Bano Haralu and Kekhrie Yhome as panellists and Theyiesinuo Keditsu as the moderator. Further highlights included ‘Poetry from the hills' by Susma Sharma Gurumayum and screening of ‘Cry of the Wild’ by District Institute of Education & Training (DIET), a creative drama about a village deciding to preserve wild life after a school girl learns about the importance of conservation.
