Our Correspondent
Kohima, July 29 (EMN): A collection of poems titled ‘Akupu: the bridge, a flower,’ written by Inaholi Assumi and published by Penthrill Publication House, was released on Thursday in Kohima.
Assumi, who is a nurse by profession, released her debut book “Akupu”, which means both a bridge and a flower in Sumi dialect.
Speaking at the book launch, the author explained that the word “bridge” provides meaning and gives a sense of “the world we live in and the experiences lived,” while the word “flower” was used metaphorically to signify blossoming of a person.
Publisher of Penthrill Publication House, Vishü Rita Krocha, shared that 2020-2021 has been extremely difficult for everyone as it affected almost every aspect of lives including publishing of books.
“Since the onset of the pandemic, Penthrill rarely had any physical book launches or participated in any literary events, which also means that book sales have especially suffered with businesses closed for many months altogether,” she said. However, she realised that the pandemic was also an opportunity to grow and expand literary circle.
She went on to inform that Penthrill could publish nine new books amid Covid-19 pandemic last year. The only regret, she said, was not being able to celebrate each of those books as gathering physically was restricted.
As for the book, she shared that something about the title was fascinating which prompted her to publish the book.
Poet and assistant professor at Kohima College, Dr. Theyiesinuo Keditsu, in her comments on the book, observed that the collection covered subjects ranging from deeply personal to the anecdotal.
According to Keditsu, the author belonged to a new emerging movement even as her work represents the de-colonising period. She added that there was no better time than now to have ‘Akupu’ published.
The professor also observed that Nagas did not write until very recently. “But to have less writers is to discredit the long history of oral traditions, where stories and poems have been made since time immemorial,” she said.
Meanwhile, Rovi Chasie observed that all the poems were sincere and commented that while some are serious, some emotional and joyful.
Former NLA deputy speaker, Joshua Sumi, while releasing the book, said that the kind of emotion and joy put into the book cannot be done by anybody except the author herself. He pointed out that many great writers were immortalised by their works.
