The Little Journal of Northeast India: October Newsletter
Dear reader,
As you may know, The Little Journal has been on a hiatus of sorts as our website was getting revamped, but we’re happy to share that we’re back now.
We hope this autumn has been kind to you as it has been to us. Lately, because of incessant rains, we’ve been mostly indoors savoring hot beverages, and when the sun does come out, we sometimes take a trip to the nearby park to watch people and other furry and non-furry animals, to read and to daydream.
How have you been spending your October?
Poem of the month
The Ancient Rocks of Cherra
By Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih
This land is old, too old
and withered for life to be easy.
Poverty eats into the hills and squeezes
a living from stones and caterpillars
gathered for out-of-town drunks
each market day.
Where the serpent’s death throes¹
cut deep wounds into the land
lie deep gorges like fiendish mouths
yawning for desperate victims.
There is nothing remarkable here
only this incredible barrenness.
Men and trees have left their habitats
to a crude and lowly breed like brush,
but the sight of dark grey rocks like sages
spells home to me.
Footnote:
¹Legend has it that the immense gorges of Sohra or Cherrapunjee, the wettest place on earth, were caused by the death throes of the Thlen, a gigantic man-eating serpent that once supposedly stalked its wilderness.
Internet favorites
Marathi, Assamese, Bengali are now ‘classical languages of India’: What does this status mean? Read about it in Firstpost
How poetry from north-eastern India captures the trauma of everyday violence, The Hindu, Frontline
A few months ago, a solo show by Chandan Bez Baruah, Elsewhere In Northeast India was curated by Waswo X. Waswo, India Art Fair
Mizoram’s first lit festival set to take place on October 17 and 18, 2024 will feature 25 writers from across India, East Mojo
Curated by the contemporary art collective ‘This is Lamka,’ Lengkhawm is a love letter written by the inhabitants of Manipur’s second-largest town. Read it on Vogue India.
News
The Little Journal Website - Our website is currently getting revamped and is expected to be ready later this year. In addition to our usual segments, the new website will have the popular interview series, 10 Questions and the 100-word anecdotal stories, Little stories.
10 Questions - If you haven’t yet checked out our recent interview with Easterine Kire, read it here.
Submission window open - We are currently open for submissions of poems, personal essays, and short stories for Issue 17 and 18. We’re also looking for photo and art essays (of 8-10 photos or art pieces per submission).
Submit your best work to littlejournal.ne@gmail.com by November 15, 2024. Please read through the submission guidelines before sending your work.
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