Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih is the winner of the Shakti Bhatt Prize 2024. He writes poetry, drama fiction and non-fiction in Khasi and English. His latest works are The Distaste of the Earth (Penguin, JCB longlisted, 2024), the epic novel Funeral Nights (Westland/And Other Stories), Late-Blooming Cherries: Haiku Poetry from India (co-ed, HarperCollins) and Lapbah: Stories from the North-east (co-ed, Penguin). His other recent works include Dancing Earth: An Anthology of Poetry from the Northeast (co-ed, Penguin), The Yearning of Seeds (HarperCollins) and Time’s Barter: Haiku and Senryu (HarperCollins). He teaches literature at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.