Guwahati, Dec. 31: Nirupama Bargohain, the author who gave a new dimension to women’s literature in Assamese, was today named winner of the prestigious Assam Valley Literary Award for 2004.
Instituted by the Williamson Magor Education Trust, the award will be formally presented to Bargohain at a function in March. The 71-year-old author described the award as “a wonderful New Year gift”.
“It feels nice with so many people dropping by to wish me. Time, it seems, has stopped for me today,” she said after the news was conveyed to her at her Kharguli residence.
One of the most popular contemporary writers in the state, Bargohain has, so far, penned 30 novels, numerous short stories compiled into 16 collections, five translations, three children’s books and three travelogues, besides her autobiography.
Born in the city in 1932, Bargohain has post-graduate degrees in Assamese as well as English. She started her career as a lecturer in different colleges of the state before becoming a journalist. She was editor of the vernacular weekly Sanchipat and the fortnightly Chitrangada.
However, she found her calling in the world of fiction and churned out bestseller after bestseller in a career spanning half-a-century.
Bargohain’s incisive writings have won her several awards including Asam Sahitya Sabha’s Basanti Devi and Hem Baruah Awards in 1988 and 1983, Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Abiyatri in 1996, Ambedkar Award in 2002 and the Tripura government’s Adaitwamalla Barman Award earlier this year.
Karnataka University selected her award-winning Abhiyatri as a textbook for its English literature course. Eminent artist Benu Misra was today named winner of the Pranab Barua Silpi Award for 2003. The award will be conferred on him on the birth anniversary of late artist Pranab Barua on February 22.