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US Modern Library acquires Northeast India author
Editor Leila Tejani acquired the book for the New York-based imprint.
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Pranavi Sharma - Sat, 04, Apr 2026
- 00:13 EDT
- 20
Author Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi / Aruni Kashyap
Penguin Random House’s Modern Library imprint has acquired world English rights to ‘The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms,’ a story collection by Indian writer Padmashri Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi from Arunachal Pradesh, according to Publishers Marketplace.
Editor Leila Tejani acquired the book for the New York-based imprint. The deal was brokered by Lucy Cleland of the Frances Goldin Literary Agency. The collection will be translated into English by writer Aruni Kashyap, director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia in Athens.
ALSO READ: Nilanjana Dasgupta bags Axiom gold
Thongchi is a prominent literary figure from Northeast India. His novels, short stories and essays are widely read in India and have been the subject of academic research. The manuscript for ‘The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms’ was shortlisted in 2022 for the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation.
He has received the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha Award from Asom Sahitya Sabha, and the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor. Thongchi is among a small number of writers from Arunachal Pradesh who write in Assamese, an Indo-Aryan language. His fiction depicts the lives of indigenous communities and their interactions with social change.
Kashyap said, “Astonishing and surprising, Thongchi is a hidden gem whose work will be a staple of Global Literature; he has no peer.”
He added, “His body of work is different from what global readers have read so far from India and it expands our understanding of the South Asian experience in fascinating ways, dispelling stereotypes.”
Cleland said, “The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms will open the window to a culture never seen before in English fiction.”
Tejani said, “Thongchi is International Booker material.”
Discover more stories on New India Abroad
Penguin Random House’s Modern Library imprint has acquired world English rights to ‘The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms,’ a story collection by Indian writer Padmashri Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi from Arunachal Pradesh, according to Publishers Marketplace.
Editor Leila Tejani acquired the book for the New York-based imprint. The deal was brokered by Lucy Cleland of the Frances Goldin Literary Agency. The collection will be translated into English by writer Aruni Kashyap, director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia in Athens.
ALSO READ: Nilanjana Dasgupta bags Axiom gold
Thongchi is a prominent literary figure from Northeast India. His novels, short stories and essays are widely read in India and have been the subject of academic research. The manuscript for ‘The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms’ was shortlisted in 2022 for the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation.
He has received the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha Award from Asom Sahitya Sabha, and the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor. Thongchi is among a small number of writers from Arunachal Pradesh who write in Assamese, an Indo-Aryan language. His fiction depicts the lives of indigenous communities and their interactions with social change.
Kashyap said, “Astonishing and surprising, Thongchi is a hidden gem whose work will be a staple of Global Literature; he has no peer.”
He added, “His body of work is different from what global readers have read so far from India and it expands our understanding of the South Asian experience in fascinating ways, dispelling stereotypes.”
Cleland said, “The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms will open the window to a culture never seen before in English fiction.”
Tejani said, “Thongchi is International Booker material.”
Discover more stories on New India Abroad
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