Literature from North East India

Literature from North East India (Assamese: উত্তৰ-পূৱ ভাৰতৰ সাহিত্য) refers to literature of in the languages of North East India and the body of work by English-language writers from this region. North-East India is an under-represented region in many ways. The troubled political climate, the beautiful landscape and the confluence of various ethnic groups perhaps have given rise to a body of writing that is completely different from Indian English Literature.North-East India was a colonial construct and continues to be one by virtue of having a historically difficult relationship with the Indian nation state.

However, there is no single definition of the phrase Literature from North East India as the diversity of this region defies easy definition. Broadly, this phrase refers mostly to English writing but may also include Assamese Literature and writings in the Meitei language, that have long traditions of writing and stand on their own with a glorious legacy.

Many writers such as Harekrishna Deka and Temsula Ao have expressed discomfit with the term North-East India and North Eastern writers, respectively. A section also strongly argue that the term is colonial and hence, an artificial construct. There is nothing called a "north-easterner" and the concept is purely geographical; it tends to homogenise an extremely heterogeneous cluster of people as there exists no common history and heritage of the people in North-East India though formerly the current states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya used to be constituent states of former British Assam.

Since 2008, national magazines and journals have taken unprecedented amount of interest in writings from this region. Several national news magazines have featured special issues on writers from North East. The profusion of literature from North East has also generated immense interest within and outside the nation.

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