About the Book

The Areca Nut Tree and Other Stories showcases works by a new generation of Assamese women writers, whose spectrum is wide and not confined to so-called 'women-centric' subjects. Be it a defiant woman sticking to her minuscule plot of land and challenging a land-grabber uncle, a woman trying to bring about a change in a river island, an adolescent girl tricked into marriage and trafficked taking on a new avatar as a revered sanyasin, a poetic portrayal of a man desperately looking for his lost love through his wanton ways, or a scathing comment on a voyeuristic society, these stories deal with human issues and experiences from different angles. Powerful voices not dictated or influenced by patriarchal dominance in society, these are tales that will offer readers a glimpse into the richness of Assamese literature of our times.

About the Author

Three times Katha Awardee, Ranjita Biswas is an independent journalist, author and translator of fiction from Assamese. Among her translated works, 'Written in Tears' won the Best Translation Prize in English from Sahitya Akademi in 2017 and 'The Loneliness of Hira Barua' bagged the PFC Valley of Words Award in 2021. Biswas is also an award-winning writer of children's fiction. Her 'Music of the Hills' has been translated into Spanish, Hindi, Telugu, Assamese, and other regional languages. Among the non-fiction works, the author's coffee table book, 'Brahmaputra and the Assam Valley' traces the socio-cultural life of Assam along the Brahmaputra River. A veteran Journalist for over 30 years, she is also known for her travelogues and is an avid short-story writer.

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