Mamang Dai is a poet and novelist from Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. A former journalist Dai also worked with World Wide Fund for Nature in the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspots programme. In 2003, she received the state Verrier Elwin Award for her book Arunachal Pradesh—the hidden land, featuring the culture, folklore, and customs of Arunachal’s different communities. A Padma Shri awardee, Dai is the author of two collections of poems and works of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel The Black Hill, which received the Sahitya Akademi Award 2017, in English. Her latest publication is Escaping the Land (novel), Speaking Tiger Books LLP, New Delhi, December 2021. Dai lives in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India.