Her book Laburnum For My Head received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in the short story category.

For this, Ao analysed the following works of Henry James: The Madonna of the Future, Daisy Miller, Madame de Mauves, Washington Square, The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, and The Golden Bowl.

[8] From 1992 to 1997 she served as Director, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur on Deputation from NEHU, and was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Minnesota 1985–86.

She was widely respected as one of the major literary voices in English to emerge from Northeast India along with Mitra Phukan and Mamang Dai.

This inner urge compels her to write along with her need "to probe, to question, and also to acknowledge that I exist in the one-ness with my fellow human beings.

"[11] Reflecting on writings from Northeast India, Ao explained,It is about the life we know, and want to share with our fellow citizens who have somehow always looked at us through the prism of 'otherness' and suspicion.

[12] Journalist Patricia Mukhim reaffirmed Ao's conviction, "[She] was quietly confident about her purpose in life which is to rectify the lenses through which her people, the Nagas, were viewed by the rest of the world.

The third, fourth, and fifth poetry collections were published by Kohima Sahitya Sabha, North Eastern Hill University and Grasswork Books respectively.

Journalist Aheli Moitra describes the 50-poem collection Songs along the Way Home as "a deep philosophical exploration of life–personal, social, political–as it has passed her [Ao] by.

The poems are heavy, laden with layers of lament, written with the skill of a songbird singing its favourite dusk song."

[15] These Hills Called Home consists of ten short stories and deals with insurgency in Nagaland fired by right to self-determination of the Naga people.

[16][15] The book blurb on the back cover describes the collection of five stories as holding 'a mirror to the lives of everyday people beyond the headlines.'

'[17] Author Rupa Gulab summarises the central thread of the five stories as, "we are brutally reminded of a universal truth: Love hurts, and death is a release."

[22] As the chairperson, Ao was very vocal for women's rights in the state often challenging traditional status quo and legal stalemate.

[23]In 2013, at one of her first public meetings holding the position, she called women and girls to play their part with conviction in the bid to make statutory laws for gender justice work.

[24] Ao made clear her support for customary law and practices and hailed them for providing "continuity and strength" to the Naga society.

However, her critique lied in the inherent gender bias in customary law practices in cases of marriage, divorce and inheritance.

In August 2013, at a seminar on gender sensitisation among police personnel, judiciary, and civil society members, Ao boldly stated, "Only when the basic human rights of the Naga women get due acknowledgement from the family, clan, village, and the overall societal framework, can we say that the process of gender sensitisation has truly started in Nagaland."

She called for instituting shelter homes in every district in Nagaland for survivors of gender violence to deal with trauma, provide counselling, and teach livelihood skills.

[26] In September 2013, drawing from her experiences, she noted that cases of marital discord in Nagaland mostly go unheard and unattended as the woman is often too traumatised.

[28] At another meeting early in the month, she referred to police data that showed that a person went missing every fourth day in Nagaland.

She pointed out that customary law are not well-equipped to deal with practices of human trafficking and police needed to intervene and play a role.

[13]Recalling her body of work and life, Walter Fernandes, founder-director of the North Eastern Social Research Centre based in Guwahati, called her an "institution of a scholar.