Session “Can Literature Unite South Asia?” at the Nepal Literature Festival. Photo courtesy Nepal Literary Festival. Used with permission.
Nepal’s only international literature festival, the 10th Nepal Literature Festival, was held in Pokhara from December 21st to 26th, creating enthusiasm and excitement among literature lovers and people from all walks of life. With 55 diverse sessions over 5 days, the event combined literature, culture, poetry and music, covering everything from sports to food, nature to politics, literary translation to creative writing. It was a discussion on the topic.
Prominent Nepalese and other South Asians such as Booker Prize-winning Sri Lankan author Shehan Karnatilaka, Indian-American author Suketu Mehta, Indian biographer Akshaya Mukul and Nepalese-American author Samrat Upadhyay writers attended the event. Sessions, especially creative writing, the art of writing biographies of people and places, South Asian literature, literary translation, and sessions in which different authors share their experiences, will bring Nepali literature across borders and into the world for literature lovers. gave hope to expand
One of the attendees, writer Mohan Mainali, shared his enthusiasm for attending the event and spoke about the session. on Twitter:
Read more ! pic.twitter.com/utQrVrtMwm
— Mohan Mainali (@mohanpmainali) December 23, 2022
Pokhara for a few days from today! I listen to others. Dhavaragiri, near Manaslu, while staying in Pokhara in front of Annapurna and Machhapuchhre range, we talk about ‘From Mahabhara to Kanchenjunga’.
— Mohan Mainali (@mohanpmainali) December 23, 2022
Another attendee, writer Deepak Parajuli, gave a virtual tour of the event. twitter:
Nehatri Hailey Hazen! 😊 pic.twitter.com/TClWBKysP1
— Deepak Parajuli (@deepak_para) December 24, 2022
Full view of the Nepal Literature Festival!
— Deepak Parajuli (@deepak_para) December 24, 2022
Attendees were also seen sharing how interesting the creative writing session was. Manish Jha, Member of Parliament for Nepal, murmured:
“The Maximum City” @suketumehta “The art of writing” @Nepallitfest मा माइलो लागको एक सत्र । pic.twitter.com/9hmZAvMZVG
— Manish Jah (@manishjhanepal) December 24, 2022
A conversation with @suketumehta, author of “The Maximum City”. “The art of writing” was an interesting session at @Nepallitfest.
— Manish Jah (@manishjhanepal) December 24, 2022
Literary translations from South Asia lag behind in the global market, and Nepalese literature has also not received enough international attention, but the literature festival may help shed light on Nepal’s rich literature. Global Voices interviewed Mr. Ajit Baral, Director and Co-Founder of the Nepal Literature Festival via email to discuss the festival’s role in the internationalization of Nepali Literature.
Global Voices (GV): With so many interesting sessions on different topics at this festival, are you seeing any different results than usual?
Ajith Balal, director and co-founder of the Nepal Literature Festival. Photo courtesy of Ajit Baral, used with permission.
Ajith Baral (AB): Each year we try to be as diverse as possible in the topics we discuss and inclusive of the participants we invite. This festival is no exception. In fact, this edition covers everything from music to sports, politics to social justice, education to animal behavior, economics to climate change, libraries to Nepalese cuisine, federalism to folklore, journalism to secular narrative. , was the most diverse in terms of sessions. fiction. Whatever the topic, our goal has always been to entertain our audience with inspiring conversations and enlighten them with our expertise. This year, though, the emphasis was on the art of writing. Indian-American author Suketu Mehta talks about writing places, Indian biographer Akshaya Mukul talks about the art of biography, and Nepali-American writer and creative writing professor Samrat Upadhyay at Indiana University. Discussing creative writing, Booker Prize-winning Sri Lankan author Shehan Karnatilaka talks about writing Seven Moons of Mari Almeida.
GV: How can a literature festival pave the way for Nepalese literature to be brought to the international market?
AB: I believe that the international prestige and scale of a literary festival will help bring Nepali literature to the global market in two ways. It introduces local authors to international authors and their work, giving them the confidence and knowledge to make international breakthroughs. You can also network with international authors and build links with publishers and copyright agencies. This is important if you want international success. Having someone refer you, or better yet, promote you, can be very helpful.
GV: How do you envision Nepali literature evolving in the next decade?
AB: Over the past 10-15 years, there has been an increase in the production and publication of Nepali literature written in the Nepali language. I think this trend will continue, and Nepalese literature will become richer and more robust in the next decade. But will there be big, ambitious works that are radical, experimental, transformative, and take the world’s attention? I don’t know.
I hope that more Nepali literature will be published in English in the near future. However, we cannot be certain that this will be the case. Writing for an English weekly in 2004, I speculated somewhat cheekily that in the next ten or fifteen years more great works of Nepali literature would be written in English than in Nepali. I was. Perhaps I was more optimistic than the international success of Samrat Upadhyay and Manjushree Thapa. But I had strong reasons to believe so. But that is not the case. Once you bite I now make no similar claims! Not all educated young people leave the country at the first opportunity available. I think this is hindering the growth of Nepali literature.
GV: What role can the Nepalese government, national and international literary community play in bringing Nepali literature to the attention of the world?
AB: Governments can do many things. They can support literary festivals, provide grants for translations of great works of Nepali literature, provide residency for writers, and fund book research. As far as the national and international community is concerned, they can read as much Nepali literature as they can, and obtain and defend works that they deem to be competitive with other works of international literature.
