A compelling fable of traditions and women's power, from an award-winning indigenous writer. Drawing on ancient tribal tales from Nagaland, northern India, Spirit Nights is the UK debut for a multi award-winning writer. An ancient prophecy is fulfilled when darkness envelops a number of villages for days on end. The only thing they know is that a terrible taboo has been violated in the spirit world. Only by crossing the borders between the natural world and the spirit world, and acting with wisdom and courage, can they get the light back. Who will dare to do that? AUTHOR: Dr Easterine Kire, poet, short story writer and novelist, was born in Kohima, Nagaland, a state in Northeast India.

In Easterine Kire's stories, the boundaries between magic and reality drift away, leaving us to marvel at simple yet fantastical folktales about human connection. The title story in this collection is about feeling trapped by other people's definitions of who we are. The Bear-man finds love in the beautiful and compassionate Rain-maiden but thinks he would never be good enough for her. He concludes that if he reveals his true feelings she would ridicule him like everyone in his life has always done. He grows gruff and antisocial, believing that he could never find friendship-least of all, love. The other stories in this collection represent oral narratives from the people of Nagaland in northeast India, stories shared privately around a glowing hearth-spirit stories that the narrators swear are true encounters. While "Forest Song," "New Road," "River and Earth Story," and "The Man Who Lost His Spirit" were narrated to the author by local storytellers, "The Man Who Went to Heaven" and "One Day" are entirely based on Naga folktales. "The Weretigerman," meanwhile, is woven around the pre-Christian Naga tradition of certain men becoming dual-souled with the tiger. In these stories, illustrated in full color by graphic artist Sunandini Banerjee, Kire brings Nagaland come alive with her rich portrayal of both the natural and the spiritual world, which, to the Naga mind, harmoniously coexisted until the recent past.

Kohima, 2007. A young man has just been gunned down in cold blood--the latest casualty in the conflict that has brutalized the people of Nagaland, in the neglected northeastern corner of India. Rich in culture and history, "Bitter Wormwood" traces the story of one man's life from 1937 until 2007, offering poignant insight into the human cost behind the political headlines of one of India's most beautiful regions.
In a gripping story that brings to life the processes that propel social change and transform communities, Easterine Kire skillfully renders the small incidents of Mose's childhood, his family, and the routines and rituals of traditional village life, painting an evocative picture of a peaceful way of life, now long-vanished. The coming of radio into Mose's family house marks the beginning of the changes that will connect them to the wider world. They learn of partition, independence, a land called America. Mose and his friends become involved in the Naga struggle for independence, and are caught in a maelstrom of violence that ends up ripping communities apart.