Assamese litterateur Homen Borgohain passes away at 88

The Sahitya Akademi awardee was discharged from the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital on May 7 after testing negative for COVID-19

Assamese writer and journalist Homen Borgohain | Photo credit: Facebook

Noted Assamese litterateur and journalist Homen Borgohain breathed his last on Wednesday morning at a private hospital here. He was 88.

The Sahitya Akademi awardee was admitted to the hospital after he collapsed at home. Doctors attributed the death to cardiac arrest.

A former president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, Mr. Borgohain had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 24. He was discharged from the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital after testing negative on May 7.

His body of work includes 11 novels and four non-fictions. He won the Sahitya Akademi in 1978 for his novel

Pita Putra but returned the award in 2015 to protest the growing intolerance in India.

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The late writer was serving as the editor-in-chief of Assamese daily

Niyomiya Barta until his death.

He had also worked as an Assam Civil Service officer briefly.

He was born on December 7, 1932, at Dhakuakhana in Lakhimpur district.

“Deeply pained by the demise of eminent litterateur and veteran journalist Homen Borgohain,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, adding that his last rites would be performed with State honours.