Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih

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Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih is an Indian poet, novelist, short story writer, editor, and translator. He writes in Khasi. and English. He is the author of the critically acclaimed, epic-length novel Funeral Nights published by Context/Westland for India and by And Other Stories for the UK and the US.

In 2008, he received the Veer Shankar Shah-Raghunath Shah National Award for Tribal Literature from the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

He is a Life Member of the Poetry Society of India, New Delhi, and a founder member of North-East Writers’ Forum, Guwahati. He is also a member of All India Tribal Literary Forum, New Delhi, Muse India, Hyderabad, and Khasi Authors’ Society, Shillong

Life

Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih was born on 4 April 1964 in Sohra (Cherrapunjee), East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya, to Perisibon Nongkynrih and O. Surong. He belongs to the Khasi (Khynriam) tribe. He was educated at Ram Krishna Mission Primary School, Maraikaphon, Sohra, and Government Boy’s High School, Shillong. He completed BA in English literature from St. Anthony’s College. He received his MA and PhD from North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.

Career

He was an Auditor in the office of the Accountant General (Audit), Shillong from 1988 to 1990. He taught at Sankardev College, Shillong from 1990 to 2001. In 1994, he became the Founder Editor of Apphira Daily News, Shillong, and remained there till 1996. Between 1998 and 2000, he was the editor of Dongmusa, a weekly newspaper. He was the Deputy Director of NEHU Publications and the University’s Public Relations Officer between 2001 and 2007.

He edited NEHU News and was the Associate Editor of The NEHU Journal between 2001 and 2007.

He has been teaching literature in the Department of English, NEHU, Shillong since 2007.

He received a Fellowship for Outstanding Artists 2000 from the Department of Culture and Tourism. He is the recipient of North-East Poetry Award 2004 from the North-East India Poetry Council, Tripura and the Veer Shankar Shah-Raghunath Shah National Award for Tribal Literature from the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 2008. He also received the Tagore Fellowship from IIAS, Shimla in 2018, The Bangalore Review June Jazz Award in 2021; and The Sparrow-R Thyagarajan Literary Award 2022, from SPARROW, Mumbai.

Some of his plays in Khasi, including Ka Jingngiah ïa ka Bneng (The Distaste of Heaven) or Ka Khanatang U Klew bad ka Sngi: A Khasi Musical have been staged. Ki Miet ka Jingtriem (Nights of Terror), has been made into a film by State of Mind Production for Doordarshan Kendra, Shillong.

Kynpham has translated several children’s books from English into Khasi for the National Book Trust, India, New Delhi. He has translated poetry and short stories from Khasi into English for Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi), Dancing Earth: An Anthology of Poetry from North-East India (Penguin), Where the Sun Rises, When Shadows Fall (Oxford University Press), Katha anthologies, and others.

Selected Bibliography

• Moments: A First Collection of Poems (Writers Workshop)
• The Sieve: A Collection of Love Poems (Writers Workshop)
• The Season of the Wind (Pine Cones Publications)
• The Fungus (2008) (Pine Cones Publications)
• The Yearning of Seeds (2011) (HarperCollins)
• Time’s Barter: Haiku and Senryu (2015) (HarperCollins)
• Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from the Northeast (NEHU Publications)
• Dancing Earth: An Anthology of Poetry from North-East India (Penguin)
• Late-Blooming Cherries: Haiku Poetry from India (HarperCollins)
• U Sier Lapalang (2005, Katha)
• Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends (2007, Penguin),
• The Legend of U Thlen: A Graphic Novel (2013, Blaft Publications)
• Manik: A Play in Five Acts (2018, Dhauli), translated into Hindi as Manik Raitong (2023, Setu Prakashan)
• Funeral Nights (Context/Westland for India, And Other Stories for the UK and the US)
• The Distaste of the Earth (Penguin, May 2024)
• A Handbook for Apphira Journalists (1994, Apphira Publications) [citation needed]
• The Story of Khasi Archery: From God-given Gift to Poetry and Dream Psychology (2010, Pine Cones Publications)
• Hiraeth and the Poetry of Soso Tham: A Study of the Great Unconventional Elegy and the Poetry of the Khasi National Bard (2011, Ri Khasi Book Agency & North Eastern India for Indigenous Studies, Shillong)
• I Moiñ Moiñ Syiar [14] (1993, R. Khongwir)
• Ki Jingkynmaw (an edited anthology of poetry, 2002, S. G. R. Lanong) [citation needed]
• Ka Samoi jong ka Lyer (2007, Pine Cones)
• Ki Mawsiang ka Sohra (2007, Pine Cones Publications)
• Ban Sngewthuh ïa ka Poitri (2009, Gautam Brothers & Himalaya Book Stall)
• Ka Jingïapeiñ jong ka Por: Ki Haiku bad Senryu (2009, Pine Cones Publications & Ri Khasi Books Agency)
• Ka Mother Teresa: Ka Kmie ki Kam Isynei (2010, Gautam Brothers & Himalaya Book Stall) [citation needed]
• Ki Miet ka Jingtriem (2011, Pine Cones Publications)
• Ka Pyrkhat Niam ki Khanatang (2011, Pine Cones Publications)
• Ki Kyrwoh: Ki Khana Phawer (2015, Pine Cones Publications & Ri Khasi Book Agency)
• Ka Jingngiew ka Mynsiem Briew (2022, Pine Cones Publications) [citation needed]
• Ka Jingshai ha ka Miet (2023, Pine Cones) [citation needed]

See also

• List of Indian English poetry anthologies
• Literature from North East India

External Links

1. Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih (poet) - India - Poetry International

2. Khasi hills and Khasi culture: Reconnection in Kynpham Sing

3. Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih - Mint Lounge

4. A Comparative Study of John Ashbery's Where Shall I Wander [provide link]

5. Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih - FBS UNY [provide link]

6. Funeral Nights Is an Unconventional Novel About the Khasis

8. Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends - Goodreads

9. Time's Barter: Haiku and Senryu - Kynpham ... - Google Books

References

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