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{{Short description|Indian poet, novelist and journalist (born 1957)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
|name = Mamang Dai
|image = Mamang Dai.jpg
|caption = Mamang Dai at [[Sahitya Akademi]], New Delhi; March 2023
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1957|2|23}}
|birth_place = [[Pasighat]], [[East Siang district]], [[Arunachal Pradesh]], India
| nationality = Indian
|language = * [[Adi language|Adi]]
* [[English language|English]]
|occupation = Poet, Novelist, Journalist
|notableworks = {{Unbulleted list
|''The Sky Queen''
|''Stupid Cupid''
|''Mountain Harvest: The Food of Arunachal Pradesh''
|''River Poems''}}
|awards = {{plainlist|
* [[Padma Shri]] (2011)
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (2017)
}}
}}
'''Mamang Dai''' (born 23 February 1957) is an Indian poet, novelist and journalist based in [[Itanagar]], [[Arunachal Pradesh]]. She received [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 2017 for her novel ''The Black Hill''.

== Life ==
Mamang Dai was born on 23 February 1957 at [[Pasighat]], [[East Siang district]], to Matin Dai and Odi Dai. Her family belongs to the [[Adi people|Adi tribe]]. She completed her schooling from Pine Mount School, [[Shillong]], [[Meghalaya]]. She completed her Bachelor in English literature from [[Gauhati University]], [[Assam]].<ref name="sarangi2017">{{cite journal |last1=Sarangi|first1=Jaydeep|last2=Dai|first2=Mamang|title=In Conversation with Mamang Dai|journal=Writers in Conversation |url=https://journals.flinders.edu.au/index.php/wic/article/view/23/19|date=2 August 2017|volume=4 |issue=2 |publisher=Flinders University|doi=10.22356/wic.v4i2.23 |s2cid=134637086 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Gupta2006">{{cite book|author=Ramaṇika Gupta|title=Indigenous Writers of India: North-East India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWCiWWeRCU4C&pg=PA23|access-date=24 February 2018|volume=1|year=2006|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-8069-300-7|pages=23–24}}</ref>

She was selected for the IAS in 1979, but later she left the post to pursue her career in journalism. She is the first woman from her state to be selected for IAS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.publishingnext.in/mamang-dai/|title=Mamang Dai – Publishing Next|website=www.publishingnext.in|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-26|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916220111/http://www.publishingnext.in/mamang-dai/|url-status=dead}}</ref> While working as a journalist, she contributed to [[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]], [[Hindustan Times]] and ''The Sentinel''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-01-02 |title=Mamang Dai |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/mamang-dai/article5530345.ece |access-date=2024-09-14 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> She has also worked in radio, as well as TV-AIR and DDK, Itanagar where she worked as an anchor and conducted interviews.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/16974/27/Mamang-Dai|title=Mamang Dai (poet) - India - Poetry International|website=www.poetryinternationalweb.net|language=en|access-date=2018-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526193457/https://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/16974/27/Mamang-Dai|archive-date=26 May 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rlpoetry.org/the-phenomenal-woman-an-interview-of-mamang-dai-by-ananya-guha/|title=RædLeafPoetry-India – The Phenomenal Woman- An interview of Mamang Dai by Ananya Guha|website=rlpoetry.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-26|archive-date=27 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527023100/https://rlpoetry.org/the-phenomenal-woman-an-interview-of-mamang-dai-by-ananya-guha/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She was appointed programme officer at Worldwide Fund for Nature, known as WWF, where she worked in the Eastern Himalayas Biodiversity Hotspots programme. She was the former secretary of Itanagar Press Club. She was the president of Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUW).<ref name="Gupta2006" /> In 2011, she was appointed a member of Arunachal Pradesh state public service commission.

==Works==
Her non-fictional works include ''Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land'' (2003) and ''Mountain Harvest : The Food of Arunachal'' (2004). ''The Sky Queen and Once Upon a Moontime'' (2003) are illustrated [[folklore]] texts by her. She published her first novel, ''The Legends of Pensam''
in 2006, which was followed by ''Stupid Cupid'' (2008) and ''The Black Hill'' (2014) ''Escaping the Land'' (2021). ''River Poems'' (2004), ''The Balm of Time'' (2008) ''Hambreelmai's Loom'' (2014), ''Midsummer Survival Lyrics'' (2014) are her poetry collections. ''The Balm of Time'' was also published in Assamese as ''El Balsamo Del YTiempo''.<ref name="sarangi2017" />

When she began writing, she wrote romantic verse and stories. She then moved from the theme of the self to focus on a larger reality. She reflects upon the sense of a close knit community living in remoter towns and villages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/cou_article/item/17068|title=The Land as "Living Presence" (article) - India - Poetry International|website=www.poetryinternationalweb.net|language=en|access-date=2018-05-26|archive-date=26 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526192858/https://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/cou_article/item/17068|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

Some of the positions that she has occupied include General Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society, member of the North East Writers’ Forum and General Council member of the Sahitya and Sangeet Natak Akademi.<ref name=":0" />

==Awards==
She received [[Padma Shri]] in 2011 from the Government of India. The government of Arunachal Pradesh conferred on her annual Verrier Elwin Prize in 2013 for her book ''Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land''.<ref name="Gupta2006" /><ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=July 21, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=October 15, 2015}}</ref> She received [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 2017 for her novel ''The Black Hill''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arunachal author Mamang Dai among 24 winners of 2017 Sahitya Akademi awards |url=https://scroll.in/latest/862334/arunachal-author-mamang-dai-among-24-winners-of-2017-sahitya-akademi-awards |website=scroll.in |date=21 December 2017 |access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Indian English Literature]]
* [[Literature from North East India]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.thanalonline.com/Issues/08/Interview2_en.htm Interview in Thanal Online]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050325214259/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2004/11/07/stories/2004110700350500.htm Poetry and the Northeast: Foraging for a destiny]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100106050317/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2010/01/03/stories/2010010350130300.htm Negotiating Change With Memory]
* {{Gbooks-author|Mamang Dai}}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Literature & Education}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Sahitya Akademi Award for English}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dai, Mamang}}
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:Writers from Northeast India]]
[[Category:English-language Indian poets]]
[[Category:Writers from Arunachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Itanagar]]
[[Category:People from Adi Community]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Adivasi women writers]]
[[Category:Adivasi writers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature and education]]

Mamang Dai - Revision history

CleanupBot at 05:19, 22 March 2026