Gadul Singh Lama, popularly known as Sanu Lama, is an Indian fiction writer, poet and translator of

Nepali literature Nepali literature ( ne, नेपाली साहित्य) refers to literature written in the Nepali language. The Nepali language has been the national language of Nepal since 1958.Himalayan Voices: An Introduction to Modern Nepali Lite ...

. An engineer by profession, he has published three short story anthologies and his stories have been translated into English, Hindi, Urdu, Assamese and Oriya languages. He is a recipient of

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

(1993), apart from other awards such as Sikkim Bhanu Puraskar, Dr. Shova Kanti Thegim Smrithi Puraskar and Madan Byakhanmala Puraskar. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, in 2005, for his contributions to literature.

Biography

Gadul Singh Lama was born on 15 June 1939 in Gangtok, in the Northeast Indian state of Sikkim to Chandraman Ghising and Phulmaya Ghising. After matriculating from the Sir Tyashi Namgyal High School (present day Tashi Namgyal Academy) in 1956 and, getting selected for the education initiative as a part of the ''7 Year Development Programme'' of the government, secured a diploma in Engineering from MBC Institute of Engineering, Burdwan in West Bengal, in 1959. Later, he joined the Sikkim State government service as an engineer and served there for 38 years before superannuating as the Chief Engineer. Lama started writing from his school days and is reported to have been inspired by one of his teachers, Rashmi Prasad Alley, a writer and one of the pioneers of Nepali education in Sikkim. His first article was published in ''Changya'', a local literary magazine. He published his first short story anthology, ''Katha Sampad'', in 1971, composed of stories such as ''Swasni Manchey'', ''Khani Tarma Ekdin'', ''Phurbhale Gaun Chadyo'' and ''Asinapo Manchey'', which has since been selected as a prescribed text for the civil services examination of the

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (ISO: ), commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group 'A' officers under Government of India. It is responsible for appointments to and exami ...

. This was followed by ''Gojika'' in 1981 and ''Mrigatrishna'' in 1993, the latter winning him the

for the year. He has also written an autobiographical novel, ''Himalchuli Manitira'', a travelogue, ''Aangan Paratira'', a poem anthology, ''Jahan BagcchaTista Rangit'' and two translated religious works, ''Bhagawan Bhiddha Jeewan ra Darshan'' and ''Guru Padmasambhava''. Sanu Lama is one of the founders of the ''Bhartiya Nepali Rashtriya Parishad'' and served as its secretary on its inception. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the

National Book Trust National Book Trust (NBT) is an Indian publishing house, which was founded in 1957 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. The activities of the Trust include publishing, promotion of books and reading, ...

(NBT) and serves as the general secretary of the Nepali Sahitya Parishad Sikkim, an autonomous literary organization under the Government of Sikkim. He is associated with the Sikkim Akademi, is a former member of the Advisory Board for Nepali literature of the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

and the president of the Himalayalan Writers' Forum. Besides the 1993

, he has received awards such as Sikkim Bhanu Puraskar, Dr. Shova Kanti Thegim Smrithi Puraskar and Madan Byakhanmala Puraskar. The Government of India included him in the 2005 Republic Day Honours list for the civilian honour of the

. He lives in

Gangtok Gangtok is a city, municipality, the capital and the largest populated place of the Indian state of Sikkim. It is also the headquarters of the East Sikkim district, Gangtok District. Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an e ...

, the capital of Sikkim.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lama, Gadul Singh Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education 1939 births Living people People from Gangtok Indian male short story writers Indian male novelists Indian male poets Nepali-language poets Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Nepali Nepali-language writers from India 20th-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian male writers Nepali-language poets from India Tamang people

Biography

See also

References

External links