Laltluangliana Khiangte

Laltluangliana Khiangte is a well-known playwright-dramatist, poet, scholar-critic, essayist, biographer and folklorist from the state of Mizoram. He has taken life as known to the Mizo tribal society as his subject and fictionalized it, thus instituting a different genre especially in the field of playwriting. He has not only achieved distinction of being recognized as a playwright and poet but is also one of the most prominent writers and folklorists of North East India. He has received many awards for his remarkable contribution to the development and growth of Mizo language and literature. He was born on 28 June 1961 to a church elder Tlanghmingthanga (formerly teacher and Synod Music Instructor) of Khiangte clan and Mrs. Darngeni of Khawlhring clan. Being born and brought up in Christian home and since he had attended Sunday School at the age of 4 till 18 years of age, he became Sunday School teacher in different stages of learning right from 1976 till 2012, and he had undergone the required Biblical training courses for a number of times.

His literary artistry comes to the fore in his writings on varied fields such as literature, culture, folklore, socio-religious studies, sports and social education including journalistic writings with equal ease and perfection. For his remarkable and historical contribution to Mizo language and literature, he has been selected for Padma Shri (in Literature and Education) for the year 2006 by the president of India. Prior to this, in addition to other decorations, he was also given two other National Awards viz. Rashtriya Lok Bhasha Samman-2003 & Bharat Adivasi Samman-2005 by the Ramnika Foundation and All India Tribal Literary Forum.

A regular choir member since 1975 till 2000 and he had even served as conductor of the choir for some years visiting different places of India as member of the singing group. An active member in Christian youth movement for 27 years, he had served as youth leader for about 20 years in different capacities even in North East and the whole of India. As a former secretary of Presbyterian Youth Fellowship of India and that of North East India Christian Council youth, he had taken an active part in the socio-religious, cultural, moral and educational programmes and he was also the president of NEICC Youth Assembly for three terms. He was convener of Civil Rights Committee under NEICC, former executive member in North East India Christian Council for three terms, and a church elder with important engagements in God's mission in various capacities. As an active Christian youth leader, he had also attended the grand Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue University, US, in 1995 as a special fraternal delegate from India.

His books and other writings had clearly depicted his deeper involvement for ecumenical and inter-denominational zeal as well as his participations in the world-wide evangelisation as a member of the community of women and men in mission. And of course, as an editor and writer, while serving as youth leader for a quarter of a century, he had recorded his experiences and other valuable information in the form of educational books for future generations. All his contributions and involvements in socio-cultural and religious activities cannot be mentioned in detail herewith.

His exemplary contribution in the field of playwriting and theatre direction has been recognized with the award of the Distinguished Playwright Award-2002 and Rastriya Lok Bhasha Samman-2003. His contributions towards nurturing nationalistic sentiments in the field of language and literature have been appropriately recognised with the K.Zawla Award-2007 and Khuangchera Award-2000. He has written more than 30 plays (including short plays), out of which 24 have been published. As a Noted Playwright-dramatist, he was awarded India Tribal Drama Award-2012 on 16- November 2012. Ten of his plays and more than ten of his essays and poems have been prescribed as texts for different stages of studies under four Universities of North East India. He has 58 books in English and Mizo, 34 Edited books in English and Mizo, 27 booklets in Mizo & English and about 14 of his books have been translated into Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Bodo, Khasi, Manipuri, Garo, Bodo etc.

His plays, articles, essays and poems have been translated into Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Kokborok and his play Chharmawia has been serialised for Doordarshan. Three of his long plays and Seven Short plays have been translated into Hindi. He has also been acclaimed as the Best Writer of Mizoram in the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 by the popular opinion poll conducted by Lelte Weekly in Mizoram. His play – Pasaltha Khuangchera (unsung freedom fighter against British rule) was also declared as the Best Book in Mizo language in the year 1997. His extraordinary contribution in the field of drama and theatre has been recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi with its Purushkar-2018 (an Award instituted by the National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama) in the field of playwrighting).

Professor Khiangte has also edited a literary journal called Thu leh Hla(Monthly) and other journals including Hruaitu(Monthly). His articles have also been published in various journals of India including Sahitya Akademi's Indian Literature and Mumbai's Midday, Bangladesh's Bharat Bachitra etc. in English and in Yudhrat Aam Admi in Hindi and several popular journals and edited volumes. Five of his plays had been translated into Hindi for wider readership in India. He is the present Editor-in-Chief of Mizo Studies, a quarterly refereed journal with ISSN-2319-6041 published by the Department of Mizo, Mizoram University, which is a Central University under MHRD, Hqrs.New Delhi.

He has been awarded Fellow Membership (FUWAI) by the United Writers Association of India; decorated with Distinguished Leadership Award-1997 ABI, USA; included in the International Who’s Who – 1997 by IBC; included in Asia / Pacific Who’s Who (2000) Cambridge UK and the Indian National Sahitya Akademi included his bio-data in the latest Who’s Who of Indian Writers, 1999 edition. He has also been included in the edition of Directory of Eminent Writers of the North East India and Reference Asia: Asia’s Who’s Who of Men & Women of Achievement and also in the Indigenous Writers of India.

He has presented more than 320 papers in Seminars, Consultations, Training and Workshops, of which more than 170 are written in English for the International, National, Regional programmes. He has published over 100 research papers and contributed more than 1000 articles / essays / poems in different journals and magazines of the country, published in English, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Garo, Khasi, Kokborok, Manipuri, Boro etc. and Mizo.

A former member of the General Council of Indian National Sahitya Akademi (2003-2007) and Sangeet Nataak Akademi (2004-2008) and Vice-President of All India Tribal Literary Forum, he is also an active Member of Indian Folklore Congress. He also continues to be active in the North East Writer Forum, Tribal Literary Conference of India, Community of women and men in Mission (under Council for World Mission). He has been involved in various capacities in Mizo Literature & Language Teachers Academy, Mizo Academy of Letters, Zoppen Club International, Mizo Writers Association, Mizo History Association, North East India Oral Literature Centre etc.

He is a life member of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage), YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association), YMA (Young Mizo Association), Leprosy Mission of India, Mizo Academy of Letters, United Writers Association of India, All India Tribal Literary Forum, Indian Society of Authors, Tribal Literary Forum of India, Gideons International etc. and the chief patron member of the Bible Society of India.

His invaluable contributions to the promotion of tribal language, folklore and literature are deemed a noteworthy addition to Indian literature in Mizo. He taught Mizo language and literature in Aizawl's premier institution of learning, Pachhunga University College, from 1985. He joined the postgraduate department of Mizo as a reader in 1999 under North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Mizoram Campus, and became a full-fledged professor in 2005. Khiangte obtained his Ph.D. in literature in 1991 and D.Litt. in folklore in 1999 and also D.D. (Doctor of Divinity-honoris causa) in 2012 (March).

A former dean, School of Education & Humanities, and executive council member of Mizoram (Central) University, ex-principal and secretary of the Council of Serampore College (University), is the seniormost professor in the Department of Mizo, MZU. And he was an active member of CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education: India) & National Monitoring Committee for Education of SCs, STs and Persons with Disabilities (2012-2015), national member for Continuing Professional Development of Teachers (NEUPA), task force member for North East India (2012–2015) and former chairman of the Board of Studies-Mizo-MZU; chief editor of refereed journal Mizo Studies; active member of the executive board of All India Association for Christian Higher Education and former vice president in North East Writers Forum & TLFI, NEICCYA.

Presently serving as professor of Mizo Department in Mizoram University; a member of board of governors in ICFAI University Mizoram; a trained member of Assessors (National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Hqrs. Bangaluru, India) and Mizo Language Committee, Govt. of Mizoram, now actively working on in some projects for the enrichment of Mizo language and literature. He has been elected for the president of Mizo Academy of Letters (2017-2019), that is the State Academy of Mizoram. He is also the president of Tribal Literary Forum of India (TLFI) and vice president of All India Tribal Literary Forum (AITLF)

He is now residing in Fakrun, B-43, Mission Veng, Aizawl-796001, Mizoram, India.

Khiangte was awarded the Book of the Year by the Mizo Academy of Letters for his play, Pasalṭha Khuangchera in 1997.[5] He is a three-time winner of the Lelte Best Writer Award, winning it in 2001 through 2003.[5] He received the Rashtriya Lok Bhasa Sanman in 2003 and the Bharat Adivasi Sanman in 2005 and the Distinguished Playwright Award, in between.[1] The Government of India awarded him with the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2006 and the Mizo Academy of Letters honoured him again in 2010, with the Pu Buanga Award, the highest literary award of the Academy, given once in five years.[3] He is also a recipient of the K. Zawla Award in Literature (2007) and Khuangchera Award (2008).[5]

The followings are some awards given to Khiangte:

• Rashtriya Lok Bhasha Samman in 2003
• Bharat Adivasi Samman – 2005
• Padma Shri in Literature & Education in 2006
• Indian Tribal Drama Award -2012 (16 November 2012)
• National National Service Scheme Medal for Excellence 2011–2012
• Sahitya Shiromani (International) on 27–28 December 2014 at Trivandrum
• Dr. Sam Higginbottom Best Principal Award 2014-15 (31 January 2015)
• Surya Inter-Indian Language Award / Bhasha Samman-2017
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award-2018 (Puraskar on Playwrighting)
• Ph.D. in 1991 (Literature-Drama), NEHU (Indian Central University).
• Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) in 1999 (Folklore), Int. Univ. of Washington.
• Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) 12 March 2012, Trinity College & Seminary

• Laltluangliana Khiangte (1993). Mizo Drama. South Asia Books. p. 226. ISBN 978-0836458114.
• Laltluangliana Khiangte (2003), Folktales of Mizoram, Indian Folklore Research Journal
• Laltluangliana Khiangte (2014). A Study of the Mizo Novel. Pothi. p. 190. ISBN 978-8184653953.

• Mizo literature
• Serampore College

• "Khiangte, Laltluangliana 1961-". WorldCat. 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.