In this episode, we speak to Easterine Kire, a poet and author who currently lives in northern Norway. The majority of her writings are based in the lived realities of the people of Nagaland in north-east India. She is known for groundbreaking, award-winning titles such as 'A Naga Village Remembered', 'A Terrible Matriarchy', 'When the River Sleeps', amongst others, and is the first Naga author to have published an English novel. Apart from writing, she also performs Jazz poetry with her band Jazzpoesi. 

Easterine talks about some remarkable books, from Amos Tutuola's 'The Palm Wine Drinkard' to Chinua Achebe's 'The Arrow of God'. She draws intriguing parallels between the indigenous literatures of the world, and explores the importance of own voices and oral traditions of storytelling. We also ponder on the co-existing fluidity and rigidity of the English language and how subverting the rules can be seen as a powerful act of dissent. 

Books in the episode:

1. The Palm Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola
2. The Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe
3. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

This is the second of the six episodes of the The Inclusive Bookshelf series. Keep a lookout for more episodes in the coming months.