Reader on Arun Sarma

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Arun Sarma's writings are 'sites of struggles' which are fought and invested with the sensitive exploration of the subject's social, economic, cultural and political positions. Entrenched in a familiar locale, Sarma's subjects expose the threads of collective cultural discourses that draw dark lines between the 'insider' and 'outsider' and also chart out spatiotemporal markers that permit a specific voicing and probing of cultural limits. These textual forms nudge us towards acknowledging and bringing into historiography new formats of identity- making and self-articulation. Aiming to give a wholesome perspective on the doyen of Assamese literature, Reader on Arun Sarma, draws upon Sarma's dramas, poetry, non-fictional prose and excerpts from his novel.

Arun Sarma, a writer par excellence
A renowned litterateur from Assam, Arun Sarma (3 November 1931-27 March 2017) was a major novelist, poet, and an eminent contemporary playwright from the North-East. He is mostly known for setting new trends in the field of drama and performance with his unconventional plays and treatment of novel subject matter. His repertoire consisted of thirteen stage plays, more than forty three radio plays, and six novels. In 2003 he won the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for his role as an exceptional dramatist who heralded a new dawn in the field of drama and performance. In 2010 he was conferred with the rare distinction, the Padma Shri for his valuable contributions to Assamese literature. In the year 1998 he bagged the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for the novel Ashirbadar Rong (The Hues of Blessing). In Ashirbador Rong he showed his expertise as a novelist who took up a sensitive issue and did justice to it. He was also the recipient of the Asam Sahitya Sabha's Best Playwright Award for two consecutive years and also, won the Assam Valley Literary Award in 2005. In 2010 Sarma was bestowed with a rare honour, the Sankaracharyya Avatar Award Literature.

An erstwhile employee of All India Radio, Sarma was conferred with many distinctions for radio broadcasting, like, Japan Prize International (1980) for the radio documentary All Buds to Bloom, ABU (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union) Award (1982) for the radio documentary Caution: Danger Ahead, Prix Futura Berlin Commendation Certificate (1983) for the radio documentary All Lips to Smile and Akashvani Award (Second best radio play in India) for the play titled Kukurnesiya Manuh.

The background, place and location
In Arun Sarma's texts, the description and selection of places can be either real or imaginary, but the representation of Assamese society is coricretized in a specific locale that is ever changing, in flux, characterized by shifting interests and new developments in architecture and topography. The geography of the region generates cultural narratives and social processes that are concerned with the place of production.