Condolences pour in for renowned poet and writer, Raghu Leishangthem

IMPHAL, Sep 10
Renowned poet and writer of Manipur, Raghu Leishangthem passed away today due to a personal illness.
He was born on August 5, 1959 at Leishangthem in Thoubal district and his first work, Punshi Telanga was published in the year 1991.
Raghu Leishangthem has authored more than 10 books comprising mainly of anthology of Manipuri poems and children's stories and has also earned many accolades.
Also he served as the Deputy Superintendent of Excise, Government of Manipur.
He has been conferred with Sahitya Akademi Award (2000) for his book 'Khungangi Chithi' and Bal Sahitya Purashkar (2013) for the book 'Patpan gi Thoibi' and is a recipient of other awards from different literary organizations of Manipur.
His works have been translated and published in many languages like Punjabi, Hindi, English, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali, Marathi etc.
Apart from being a poet and writer, he was a regular news columnist who wrote about topics covering Art and Culture, social problems and so on.
He also strongly believed in bringing 'Peace through Literature' and in making the future pillars of the Nation stronger with positive thoughts through inspirational and motivational stories and poems.
Mourning his sudden demise, many literary organisations have expressed condolences.
Writers Forum Imphal held an online condolence meeting today chaired by its president, Keisham Priyokumar and the attendees prayed that the departed soul may rest in peace at the heavenly abode.
Iramdam Meeyamgi Apunba Khorjei Lup (IMAKHOL), in a press release, stated that an emergency meeting was convened at the residence of organisation president, Dr Raj Kumar Gunachandra at Awang Potsangbam Khullen to condole his demise.
During the meeting, the contribution of Raghu Leishangthem who was also a lifetime member of IMAKHOL was fondly recalled, it said.
ASEILUP, Manipur also expressed profound grief over the demise of Raghu Leishangthem who was a member of ASEILUP since its inception and also extended condolences to the bereaved family.
Manipur Literary and Cultural Forum, Tripura also expressed shock over the passing away of Raghu Leishangthem on September 10.
The forum, in a press statement, recalled that writer Raghu during his days had developed a strong emotion with the Manipuri diaspora in Tripura and was part of various literary events held in Tripura.
Literary bodies and other organisations in Agartala had also feted him when he was conferred Sahitya Akademi Award at New Delhi in recognition of his work, the forum recalled.
His demise is an irreparable loss to the Manipuri literary society, it added.
Progressive Writers Association Manipur, The Cultural Forum Manipur and North East Writer's Forum too mourned his demise and shared the pain and grief of the bereaved family.