Two books titled, ‘Songs Along the Way Home’ and ‘Aosenla’s Story’ written by professor Temsula Ao was launched here at Dimapur Government College (DGC) auditorium on Saturday in a program organised by Literati and Heritage Publishing House, and hosted by DGC.
Professor, Temsula Ao is a recipient of awards like, Padma Sri (Literature and Education) in 2007, The Nagaland Governor’s Award (for distinction in literature) in 2009, The Sahitya Akademi Award (for English) in 2013, and The Kusumagjaj National Literature Award 2015 (for poetry) of Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik.
The books were released by associate professor department of English DGC, A. Sentiyula. Speaking at the launching program, Sentiyula underscored the inspiration she has drawn from the author Temsula. According to Sentiyula, Temsula Ao is not just a songwriter, story teller, and chronicler, but also a great teacher and scholar. Expressing hope that young students would be motivated to innovate through the writings, Sentiyula thanked the author on behalf of readers for allowing them to relive history.
Temsula expressed gratitude to the DGC principal, faculty and staff for hosting the event. She remarked that this was the first proper book launch in her writing career. “The only other time where a book was formally introduced to a group of people in a gathering like this was when a visiting professor from JNU was gently ‘coerced’ to launch my 5th book of poems, ‘Songs From The Other Life’ during a refresher course in our department where I was the HoD”, she added.
‘Songs Along the Way Home’ and ‘Aosenla’s Story’ were both published in 2017, but took almost two years to launch. She said that the year 2018 had not been a very easy year for her as she was confronted with the first real challenges of old age. Temsula maintained that whatever she writes comes from the inner urge to probe, to question and also to acknowledge that she exist in oneness with her fellow human beings. She further hoped that the two books offered to the public will find a sense of affirmation among its readers.
The book, ‘Songs Along the Way Home’ is the sixth book of poems from the author. After the success of ‘These Hills Called Home’ and ‘Once Upon a Life’, Temsula Ao returns to Nagaland in ‘Aosenla’s Story’ to bring readers the story of Aosenla, a woman who is coming to terms with herself. The novel opens on a typical summer afternoon that turns into another oppressive evening.