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The Last Free Naga
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The Last Free Naga

by Jim Wungramyao Kasom
Fiction 2025 208 pages
4.5
1 review · 4 readers finished · 4 reading now · 3 lines kept
🏬 Also available at The Story Keeper (Kohima, Nagaland) and 1 other

About this book

The Last Free Naga by Jim Wungramyao Kasom is a collection of twelve evocative short stories that capture the heart, history, and spirit of the Naga people. Set against the backdrop of a remote homeland—where distance is both a shield and a chosen way of life—Kasom’s prose is fresh, haunting, and deeply rooted in cultural memory.

From the fervor of the Naga national movement to the quiet rhythms of rural existence, each story reveals a world of striking beauty and uncompromising reality. In the title story, a young boy prepares to leave his village for a safer neighboring state, wondering how to fit the essence of his home into a single suitcase. Salt portrays a man’s struggle to build a peaceful life in the mountains, only to confront the brutality of the state. In Season of Cicadas, myth and memory merge when a lone walk is disrupted by the mysterious Khangneyi. And in The River that Bends Time, generations are bound together by fishing nets and a river that endures every change around it.

Within these pages are silent lovers, fractured families, steadfast fathers, spirited grandmothers, and uncles lost to time—each character unforgettable in their own way. The Last Free Naga stands as a lyrical tribute to the solitude, resilience, and singular identity of the Naga people.

Book details

Published · Publisher · Pages · Format · ISBN · Language
Published
Aug 2025
Pages
208
Format
Paperback, Kindle / eBook
ISBN
9363369056
Language
English
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Community Reviews

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shimray
May 31, 2026
Jim has a remarkable gift for bringing ordinary village life to life through his words. For many of us who grew up in Naga villages, these stories will feel familiar, stirring memories of people, places, and moments we thought we had left behind.

For readers from outside the region, his writing offers a window into the lives of the Nagas—their struggles, joys, traditions, and everyday realities. Whether he is writing about the rhythms of daily life or the complexities of socio-political change, Jim captures them with authenticity, warmth, and insight.
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