Tiamerenla Monalisa Changkija is an Indian journalist and poet from

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

. She was the owner of '' Nagaland Page'', a Nagaland daily newspaper that was published from May 1999 to December 2024. Changkija was a member of the Working Group on Women's Empowerment in the Indian National Planning Commission.

Life

Tiamerenla Monalisa Changkija was born in

Jorhat Jorhat ( /) is a major city in Upper Assam division, Upper Assam and among the fastest growing urban centres in the state of Assam in India. Etymology Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

on 2 March 1960. Her family belongs to the Ao Naga community. She attended school in Jorhat and Kohima,

. She obtained an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Hindu College, Delhi, followed by a master's degree from

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. Changkija married Bendangtoshi Longkümer. She has two daughters. Her husband died in 2017.

Career

Changkija began her career as a journalist with the ''Nagaland Times'' in 1985. She wrote a column, "The State of Affairs", for this paper, and another titled "Of Roses and Thorns" for the weekly paper '' Ura Mail''. Both the papers were based in Dimapur. During the long-running insurgency in Nagaland, Changkija began to write poetry and short stories to protest the violence, and to criticise the condition of society that led to the unrest. Changkija's writings put her in grave risk from the militants. Her editor at the ''Ura Mail'' was assassinated in 1992. Changkija's poem ''Not be dead'' was written to honour his memory. Changkija founded the '' Nagaland Page'' in 1999. Focussing on issues affecting the state of Nagaland, she upset both the state government and the militants. An article published in her paper titled "State is a reality and sovereignty is a myth" led to demands from the terrorists that she disclose the author's name. When she refused, she was threatened with retribution. In 2004, bombing at Dimapur's Hong Kong market resulted in the deaths of dozens. Changkija's impassioned ''Child of Cain'' was printed soon after. Changkija's 2014 book ''Cogitating for a Better Deal'' was banned by the Ao Senden, an organisation that claimed to be a statutory apex judiciary body. They accused her of making false allegations against it. In particular, they objected to her statement that it was a non-governmental organisation rather than a mandated arbitrator in Ao tribal affairs.

Selected works

Poetry

* *

Non-fiction

Awards

* Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson (2009) * 30th FICCI Women Achiever of the Year 2013-2014 for Outstanding Contributions as a Journalist (2014)

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Changkija, Monalisa Living people Delhi University alumni 20th-century Indian poets 21st-century Indian poets Indian women short story writers 20th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian women journalists 21st-century Indian journalists 21st-century Indian women journalists Hindu College, Delhi alumni People from Jorhat district Poets from Assam Women writers from Assam 20th-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian short story writers Naga people 1960 births