Manipuri writer bags Sahitya Akademi award

The newly-elected president of the Sahitya Akademi, noted Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyay presented the Sahitya Akademi awards for 2007 to 24 eminent writers of the country for their contribution to literature in a glittering ceremony held in New Delhi.

Veteran Manipuri novelist BM Maisnamba for his Manipuri novel Imasi Nurabee (Royal Virgin Mother) was among the writers who received the award. The citation for the award said, “It is a novel written in a genuinely new style and is based on Freudian psychology. The novel centres around the Manipuri Laiharaoba culture against the background of the royal family.”

Born in 1946 in Imphal, Maisnamba started writing novels from 1963 onwards. He has so far written nine novels and three poetry books. In the Writer’ Meet held at the Sahitya Akademi Auditorium today, Maisnamba said, “Song and poetry are my heart and soul, and novel is my life.”

About his award-winning novel Imasi Nurabee, Maisnamba stated that it was based on the lives of Bengali and Meitei communities inhabiting together in Bangladesh. The Bay of Bengal and its surrounding areas from Chittagong Hill Tracts to Digha beach of West Bengal upto the Wheeler Island of Utkal Desh (present Orissa) were the location of the novel. He said, “I experienced every moment sitting by the side of the Bay of Bengal for a number days together and I gathered so many useful information like oceanic topography and diving process for the novel.”

Manipur | North East Enquirer (Headlines) | Nena Home Page |