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{{Short description|Assamese writer (born 1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Arupa Kalita Patangia
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| birth_place = [[Golaghat]], [[Assam]], India
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| occupation = Novelist, writer, professor
| language = [[Assamese language|Assamese]]
| nationality = [[India]]n
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| alma_mater = [[Debraj Roy College]]<br>[[Gauhati University]]
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| notableworks = ''Mariam Austin Othoba Hira Barua''
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| awards = [[Sahitya Akademi Award]]<br>[[Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad]] Award
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'''Arupa Kalita Patangia''' was born in 1956<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.assamtimes.org/node/17076|title = Farewell to Dr. Arupa Patangia Kalita|date = 23 June 2016}}</ref> and is an Indian novelist and short story writer and known for her fiction writing in [[Assamese language|Assamese]].<ref name="Arupa Patangia Kalita">{{cite web |url=http://samanvayindianlanguagesfestival.org/2011/arupa-patangia-kalita/ |title=Arupa Patangia Kalita |publisher=Samanvayindianlanguagesfestival.org |access-date=2013-06-14 |archive-date=8 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808103246/http://samanvayindianlanguagesfestival.org/2011/arupa-patangia-kalita/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="womenswriting1">{{cite web|url=http://www.womenswriting.com/WomensWriting/AuthorProfileDetail.asp?AuthorID=181 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616054223/http://www.womenswriting.com/WomensWriting/AuthorProfileDetail.asp?AuthorID=181 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-06-16 |title=Women's Writing |publisher=Womenswriting.com |access-date=2013-06-14 }}</ref> Her literary awards include: the [[Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad]] award, the Katha Prize and the Prabina Saikia Award. In 2014, she received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for her short stories book named ''Mariam Austin Othoba Hira Barua''.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/Assam-and-Bodo-writers-to-get-the-award/articleshow/45578962.cms|title=Assam and Bodo writers to get the award|journal=The Times of India|date=2014-12-20 |access-date=2015-01-06}}</ref> Her books have been translated to English, Hindi, and Bengali.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=jan0117/at056|title=The Assam Tribune Online|last=Staff Reporter|website=www.assamtribune.com|access-date=2017-03-22|archive-date=4 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104182920/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=jan0117%2Fat056|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her works touch upon Assamese history and culture, addressing the lives people from middle and lower income brackets,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/books/all-aboard-the-ghost-bus|title=All aboard the ghost bus {{!}} OPEN Magazine|website=OPEN Magazine|date=20 May 2015 |language=en|access-date=2017-03-22}}</ref> and focus specifically on concerns of women, violence, and insurgency.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2008&issid=20&id=1145|title=Arupa Patangia Kalita: In conversation with Aruni Kashyap|last=Kalita|first=Arupa Patangia|date=Jul–Aug 2008|website=Muse India|access-date=22 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323142655/http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2008&issid=20&id=1145|archive-date=23 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Biography==
She studied at Golaghat Mission Girls High School, and [[Debraj Roy College]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.assamtimes.org/node/18216|title=Assam Valley Literary Award for Dr.Arupa Patangia Kalita|last=Khan|first=Shajid|date=1 January 2017|work=Assam Times|access-date=22 March 2017}}</ref> and completed her PhD from [[Gauhati University]] on Pearl S. Buck's women characters.<ref name="Arupa Patangia Kalita"/> Arupa Patangia Kalita taught English at [[Tangla College]], Darrang, [[Assam]]<ref name="womenswriting1"/> and retired as Head of the English Department of Tangla College on 22 June 2016.<ref name=":1" />

==Literary works==
She has more than ten novels and short story collections to her credit. Some of these include:

;Novels
* ''Mriganabhi'' (1987),
* ''Ayananta''
* ''Millenniumar Sapon'' (2002)
* ''Marubhumit Menaka Aru Anyanya'',
* ''Kaitat Keteki'',
* ''Rongamatir Paharto''
* ''Felanee'' etc.
;Short Stories
* ''Mariam Austin Othoba Hira Barua''
;Translated novels:
* ''Dawn: A Novel'', an English translation of ''Ayananta'' by [[Ranjita Biswas]], was published by Zubaan, [[New Delhi]]. It has also been translated into Hindi.
* ''Felanee'', another important novel, was translated into English by Deepika Phukan (also published by Zubaan) and shortlisted for the [[Crossword Book Award]].<ref name="kanvasjournal1">{{cite web|url=http://www.kanvasjournal.com/felanee-by-arupa-kalita-patangia-translated-by-deepika-phukan/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615234147/http://www.kanvasjournal.com/felanee-by-arupa-kalita-patangia-translated-by-deepika-phukan/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-06-15 |title=Felanee by Arupa Kalita Patangia Translated by Deepika PhukanKanvas Journal |publisher=Kanvasjournal.com |access-date=2013-06-14 }}</ref>
* ''The Invitation'' is an English translation, by Arunabha Bhuyan, of Patangia Kalita's Assamese work ''Handpicked Fictions''.
* ‘’The Loneliness of Hira Barua’’ translated by Ranjita Biswas, 2020<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/arupa-patangia-kalita/the-loneliness-of-hira-barua/9789389109597|title = The Loneliness of Hira Barua by Arupa Patangia Kalita}}</ref>
;Feature Films:
* Arupa Patangia Kalita has written the dialogues for the critically acclaimed Assamese feature film [[Kothanodi]] (The River of Fables).

She released a collection of her short-stories, ''Alekjaan Banur Jaan'', at the 20th Guwahati Book Fair.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060114/asp/guwahati/story_5715390.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629081334/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060114/asp/guwahati/story_5715390.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2011 |title=The Telegraph - Calcutta : Guwahati |publisher=Telegraphindia.com |date=2006-01-14 |access-date=2013-06-14}}</ref> Her short stories have been translated into several languages, including English, Hindi, and Bengali.<ref name="kanvasjournal1"/>

A leading [[feminist]] from the [[North-East]], she also writes extensively on questions of women and society.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theweekendleader.com/Culture/2156/writing-right.html|title=Writing right|last=Biswas|first=Ranjita|website=www.theweekendleader.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-22}}</ref> She has stated an interview that, "I’m a woman and hence I write about women in my society.... In this uneven society that I belong to, I always feel I have a lot of say about women, as a woman."<ref name=":0" /> Specifically on the question of feminism, she has rejected labels, stating that "You can call me a feminist or a humanist, but I feel being a feminist and a humanist are not contradictory."<ref name=":2" />

==Awards==
Kalita's literary awards include:<ref name="Arupa Patangia Kalita"/>
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (2014),
* Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award,
* Katha Award<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chandrasekhar |first1=Indira |title=Twenty Stories from South Asia |date=2003 |publisher=Katha |isbn=978-81-87649-71-7 |pages=266 |language=en}}</ref>
* Prabina Saikia Award<ref>{{cite journal|author=TI Trade |url=http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=apr0613/city05 |title=The Assam Tribune Online |publisher=Assamtribune.com |date=2013-04-06 |access-date=2013-06-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222954/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=apr0613%2Fcity05 |archive-date=2016-03-03 }}</ref>
* [[Assam Valley Literary Award]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Assam Valley Literary Award for Dr Arupa Patangia Kalita |url=https://www.sentinelassam.com/topheadlines/assam-valley-literary-award-for-dr-arupa-patangia-kalita |access-date=26 October 2025 |work=[[The Sentinel (Guwahati)|The Sentinel]] |date=31 December 2016 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Rejection of the Basanti Devi Award ===
She famously declined an award from the [[Asam Sahitya Sabha]], on grounds of it being in the 'women-only' category.<ref name="Arupa Patangia Kalita"/> In an interview, Patangia stated that her reasons for rejecting the Basanti Devi Award were on the following grounds:<ref name=":0" /> <blockquote>"A text is a text, written by a woman or a man. I feel, after it is published and given away to the readers to judge, it should be considered merely as a text and judged according to its merit as a text, not on the basis of gender. Even men have written about woman sensitively, and some immortal female characters in literature have been created by male writers. When questions of merit and judgment come in, a writer should be treated as a writer, not as a male or female writer."</blockquote>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110320040815/http://www.bipuljyoti.in/story/arupa02.html The daughter, the wife and the mother], a short story by the author at bipuljyoti.in.
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110629120429/http://scribblesofsoul.com/dawn-by-arupa-kalita-patangia/ a Review of novel '''Dawn''']}} by Arupa Kalita Patangia at scribblesofsoul.com.
* [http://www.womensweb.in/articles/felanee-assamese-book-review/ a Review of novel Felanee] at womensweb.in.
* [https://www.thehindu.com/books/ferns-on-her-sador-vaishna-roy-reviews-arupa-patangia-kalitas-the-loneliness-of-hira-barua/article33362114.ece Review of The Loneliness of Hira Barua]
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalita, Arupa Patangiya}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Women writers from Assam]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]
[[Category:People from Golaghat]]
[[Category:Cotton College, Guwahati alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Novelists from Assam]]
[[Category:Indian women short story writers]]
[[Category:Indian women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese]]
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women novelists]]

Arupa Kalita Patangia - Revision history

Trainscafe at 04:39, 29 April 2026