Dr. Arupa Patangia Kalita is regarded as one of the most prominent feminist writers from the North-East. A powerful storyteller of topics, such as insurgency, poverty and women’s issues, Dr Kalita’s novels speak about the ordinary lives of the common Assamese people. She has been awarded the Assam Valley Literary Award, Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award, Katha Prize among other prestigious recognitions. For her acclaimed novel Mariam Austin Othoba Hira Barua, she received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014.

In 2016, Dr Kalita retired as Head of the English Department of Tangla College, Darrang, Assam. She has as many as twenty published books to her credit, mostly novels and short-story collections. Many of her books are also prescribed texbooks in academic institutions in Assam. While her stories have been widely translated into English, Hindi and Bengali, as a translator herself, Dr Kalita has worked on Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, besides collections of Russian and Chinese folk tales into Assamese.