Easterine Kire

Born in 1959 in Nagaland, north-east India, she has a PhD in English literature from Pune University, India. Kire’s first book of poetry (Kelhoukevira,1982) was the first book of English poetry to be published by a Naga. In 2003, she also published the first novel by a Naga writer in English, A Naga village remembered (Ura Academy).

Kire was awarded the Governor’s medal for excellence in Naga literature (2011), and in 2013 Catalan PEN, Barcelona honoured her with the Free Voice award.

Her second novel, A Terrible Matriarchy (Zubaan 2007), was selected by Indian Literature Abroad for translation into the UN languages. Kire’s novels reflect the socio-cultural and historical landscape of Naga society. She has also written five children’s books, as well as several articles and essays. Two of her novels, Bitter Wormwood (2013) and When the River Sleeps (2015), have been nominated for the Hindu Prize, with the latter winning in 2015. Her latest book, Son of the Thundercloud (Speaking Tiger 2016), won the Book of the Year prize for fiction at the 2017 Tata Literature Live! Awards. Kire is also a member of the band Jazzpoesi. The digital CD they released in summer 2013 topped the Norwegian jazz charts. Kire’s poetry has been translated into Croatian, Uzbek, Spanish, Catalan, and Bengali.

During her residency Kire held a launch event for her new book ‘Don’t Run, My Love’ (2017). She also took part in a conversation evening at Longyearbyen Library to celebrate the Solfest and International Women’s Day.