Temsüla Ao
Temsüla Ao (born October 1945) is an Indian poet, short story writer and ethnographer. She is a retired Professor of English at North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), where she taught since 1975. She served as the Director of North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur between 1992 and 1997 on deputation from NEHU. In 2013, she received the Sahitya Akademi Award for her short story collection, "Laburnum for My Head". Biography. Temsüla Ao was born in October 1945 at Jorhat, Assam and matriculated from at Ridgeway Girls' High School, Golaghat. She received her B.A with Distinction from Fazl Ali  College, Mokokchung, Nagaland, and M.A in English from Gauhati University, Assam. From English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, she received her Post Graduate Diploma in the Teaching of English and PhD from NEHU. From 1992 to 1997 she served as Director, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur on Deputation from NEHU, and was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Minnesota 1985–86. She received the honorary Padma Shri Award in 2007. She is the recipient of the Governor's Gold Medal 2009 from the government of Meghalaya. She is widely respected as one of the major literary voices in English  to emerge from Northeast India along with Mitra Phukan and Mamang Dai. Her works have been translated into German, French, Assamese, Bengali and Hindi. Publications. Poetry. She has published five poetic works. Her first two poetry collections were published from Writers Workshop, Kolkata. The third poetry collection was published by Kohima Sahitya Sabha and the fourth was published by North Eastern Hill University and the last one was by Grasswork Books, Pune. Ethnography. When she was in the University of Minnesota as a Fulbright fellow, she came in contact with the Native Americans. She learned about their culture, heritage and  especially their oral tradition. This exposure inspired her to record the oral tradition of her own community, Ao Naga. After returning from the University of Minnesota, she worked on the oral tradition for about twelve years. She collected the myths, folktales, folklore, rituals, law, custom, belief system. This ethnographic work was published in 1999 as the Ao-Naga oral tradition from Bhasha Publications, Baroda. This book is the most authentic document about the Ao-Naga community. Short story. Temsüla Ao has published two short story collections. "These Hills Called Home: Stories from the War Zone", Zubaan and "Laburnum for my  Head", Penguin India (2009). The former short story collection consists of ten short stories and deals with insurgency in Nagaland fired by right to self-determination of the Naga people. Literary criticism. She published a book of literary criticism "Henry James' Quest for an Ideal Heroine". It was published in 1989 from Writers Workshop.