Rita Chowdhury

She received Sahitya Akademi Award in 2008 for the novel Deo Langkhui which was based on the Tiwas of Assam. Partly history and mostly legends, the plot of this novel is constructed in a manner that can easily be demarcated as a departure from traditional one although traditions and reality merge into a complete whole.

She was the founder editor of Adharxila, a monthly literary magazine, published from Guwahati from 2001 to 2002.

After Abirata Jatra, Chowdhury wrote a series of novels namely Tirthabhumi (The Shrine) in 1988, Maha Jibanar Adharshila (Foundation Stone of Great Life) in 1993, Nayana Tarali Sujata in 1996, Popiya Torar Xadhu (Tale of a shooting star) in 1998, Rag-malkosh in 1999, Jala-Padma (Water-Lotus) in 1999, Hridoy Nirupai (The Helpless Heart) in 2003, Deo Langkhui (The Divine Sword) in 2005, Makam (The Golden Horse) in 2010 and Mayabritta (The Circle of Worldly Illusion) in 2012. Each of her novels is a depiction of some significant aspects of the society.

Daughter of renowned writer late Biraja Nanda Chowdhury and Social-Worker Shri Molina Chowdhury, Rita Chowdhury was born at Nampong in Tirap District of Arunachal Pradesh. She did her schooling in Upper Haflong L.P. School and Higher Secondary in Margherita Public Higher Secondary School. She passed her B.A. in Political Science from Cotton College under Gauhati University in 1982. She is double MA in Political Science and Assamese from Gauhati University with LLB(1990) and Ph.D.. She did Ph.D. from Gauhati University on Comparative Literature in 2005. Her thesis was on Society and Women psychology depicted in Nirupama Borgohain and Ashapurna Devi's Novels: a Comparative Study.

Chowdhury's first novel was Abirata Jatra (English: Incessant Journey) in 1981 which won the first prize in a competition held by Asom Sahitya Sabha on the contemporary Assamese situation. She wrote this novel while she had to go underground during the Assam Movement.

In 1981, her debut novel ‘Abirata Jatra’ (Incessant Journey) was published and reflecting the name of the novel her journey into the Assamese literary world also started. She was awarded the Asom Sahitya Sabha award in 1981 for this very first novel. Even after holding a post of lecturer in Political Science in Cotton University in Guwahati, Chowdhury has been able to establish herself as a litterateur.

The Heart touching and sorrowful conditions of the Chinese people in Assam during the Indo China War of 1962 is clearly depicted in Makam.

It is the early nineteenth century. The British East India Company has been bringing in Chinese slaves to work in the tea gardens of Assam. Amidst days of misery and toil, they slowly begin to find contentment in their day-to-day lives.In post-independence Assam, Mei Lin, descended from the slave Ho Han, lives a life of satisfaction with her husband Pulok Barua. But in 1962, as war breaks out in the high Himalayas between India and China, a close family member conspires to have Mei Lin deported to Maoist China. She and thousands of other Chinese Indians will now have to fend for themselves in a land that, despite their origins, is strangely foreign.From the horror-ridden hardships of the slave pens of Assam to the Sino-Indian war, this searing novel tells the story of the Chinese Indians, a community condemned by intolerance to obscurity and untold sorrow.

Rita Chowdhury (born 17 August 1960) is an Indian poet, novelist and Sahitya Akademi Award recipient in the world of Assamese literature. She has been working as an associate professor in Cotton College, Guwahati, Assam in Political Science Department since 2001. Prior to that, Chowdhury had worked as lecturer from 1991 to 1996 and as senior lecturer from 1996 to 2001 in the same college. She started her teaching career as lecturer in Political Science in Diphu Government College, Karbi Anglong from the year 1989 to 1991. She is currently the Director of National Book Trust, India. She is also the wife of minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.