Temsula Ao

Temsula Ao was born in October 1945 at Jorhat, Assam. She received her B.A with Distinction from Fazl Ali College, Mokokchung, Nagaland. She received her M.A in English from Gauhati University, Assam. From Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (presently English and Foreign Languages University,) Hyderabad she received her Post Graduate Diploma in the Teaching of English and Ph.D from NEHU. From 1992-97 she served as Director, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur on Deputation from NEHU, and was Fulbright Fellow to University of Minnesota 1985-86. She is a retired Professor of English in North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), where she has taught since 1975. She received the honorary Padma Shri Award in 2007. She is the recipient of the Governor’s Gold Medal 2009 from the government of Meghalaya. In 2013, she received the Sahitya Akademi Award for her short story collection, Laburnum For My Head, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Literature. Ao is widely respected as one of the major literary voices in English to emerge from Northeast India along with Mitra Phukan and Mamang Dai