Mizoram University to teach Easterine’s ‘Bitter Wormwood’

Dimapur, March 24 (EMN): The award-winning Naga novelist, Easterine Kire’s book ‘Bitter Wormwood’ has been included by the Mizoram University to be taught in its Master of Arts (MA) course.

The book, set in 2007 at Kohima, traces the story of a Naga man named, Mose, from 1937 till present day (2007, as per the book’s setting) – and how the entrance of a transistor radio marks a change in the protagonist’s life, taking him right into the centre of the Naga independence movement.

‘Bitter Wormwood’ is derived from an herb, traditionally ‘believed to keep evil spirits away.’ Kire uses this as a metaphor in her book as a ‘powerful talisman’ in which she says: “We sure could do with some of that old magic now.”

Besides ‘Bitter Wormwood,’ Kire’s ‘A Terrible Matriarchy’ is also taught in Sikkim Government College as well as in Nagaland University to literature students. One of her prose works is also taught in Norwegian courses.