Archive · 26 Jul 2026
Jim Wungramyao Kasom's The Last Free Naga
Jim Wungramyao Kasom's book 'The Last Free Naga' is a collection of 12 short stories set in the Naga homeland during the 1990s.
The stories are about people, places, land, jungle, and rivers.
Kasom tells these stories simply but with a deep understanding of the land and its people.
He doesn't make the stories more exciting than they are; instead, he tells them exactly as they are, with all their beauty and harshness.
The stories show how people live in a place where violence and danger are always present.
They also talk about the hard choices people have to make, like staying or leaving their homeland.
The characters in the stories are at important moments in their lives, and Kasom tells their stories with care.
The book is honest and true to the experiences of life in Imphal and Ukhrul during that time.
Jim Wungramyao Kasom's 'The Last Free Naga' is a collection of 12 short stories set in the Naga homeland during the 1990s.
The stories are rooted in the Naga homeland, protected and defined by its remoteness.
Kasom resists romanticizing his experiences, choosing to preserve and protect the stories with urgency and in tune with their elemental rhythms.
The stories show how power and violence enter without warning, interrupt, and leave lasting damage.
The characters in the stories are at important moments in their lives, and Kasom tells their stories with care.
The book is honest and true to the experiences of life in Imphal and Ukhrul during the 1990s.
- Who
- Jim Wungramyao Kasom
- What
- The Last Free Naga: Stories
- When
- 1990s
- Where
- Naga homeland, Imphal, Ukhrul
- Why
- To tell stories about people, places, land, jungle, and rivers, preserving them with urgency and in tune with their elemental rhythms.
Romanticizing the Experience
Preserving the Reality
Storytelling Approach
Romanticizing the Experience
Some might argue that romanticizing the experience can make the stories more appealing to a wider audience.
Preserving the Reality
Kasom resists romanticizing his experiences, choosing instead to preserve and protect the stories with urgency and in tune with their elemental rhythms.
- Author
- Jim Wungramyao Kasom
- Publisher
- Speaking Tiger Books
- Setting
- Naga homeland, Imphal, Ukhrul, 1990s
- Themes
- Identity, community, violence, endurance
- Notable Stories
- The Last Free Naga, Salt, Good Samaritan on a Rainy Day, Malice as Old as the Land, Postcards, Season of Cicadas, The River that Bends Time, Snow, What is Heaven Baking Today