Nepal Literature Festival ( ne, नेपाल साहित्य महोत्सव) is an annual international literary festival which takes place in

Pokhara Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the List of cities in Nepal, second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

(previously

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

). It was founded in 2011 by Bookworm Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. IME Group is the current title sponsor of the festival.

Timeline

2011

The first edition of the festival was held from 18 to 21 August in Gyan Mandala in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur. The festival was sponsored by

Ncell Ncell Axiata Limited (previously Ncell Private Limited) ( ne, एनसेल आजियाटा) is a mobile service provider from Nepal. Ncell is Nepal's second largest telecommunications company, after Nepal Telecom. The company was founde ...

, a telecommunication company.

2012

The second edition of festival was held from 20 to 23 September in the premises of the Nepal Academy at Kamaladi, Kathmandu The festival was sponsored by

, a telecommunication company. The festival had participated by international writers:

Mark Tully Sir William Mark Tully, KBE (born 24 October 1935) is the former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi, a position he held for 20 years. He worked with the BBC for a total of 30 years before resigning in July 1994. The recipient of several awards, Tul ...

Indra Bahadur Rai Indra Bahadur Rai (3 February 1927 – 6 March 2018) was an Indian Nepali language writer and literary critic from Darjeeling, India. He wrote multiple essays, short stories, novels and criticism in his lifetime. ''Kheer'' and ''Raat Bhari Huri ...

and Ira Trivedi.

2013

The third edition of festival was held from 25 to 28 October in the premises of the Nepal Academy at Kamaladi, Kathmandu. The festival was sponsored by

, a telecommunication company. The festival had participated by international writers:

Shobhaa De Shobha De (''née'' Rajadhyaksha, formerly Kilachand; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction, for which she has been referred to as the "Jackie ...

, Ravinder Singh,

Prajwal Parajuly Prajwal Parajuly (né Sharma; born 24 October 1984) is an Indian writer whose works focus on Nepali-speaking people and their culture. Parajuly's works include the short-story collection ''The Gurkha's Daughter'' and novel '' Land Where I Flee''. ...

and Farah Ghuznavi.

2014

The fourth edition of festival was held from 19 to 22 September in the premises of the Nepal Academy at Kamaladi, Kathmandu. The festival was sponsored by

, a telecommunication company. The festival had participated by international writers:

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...

, Farah Ghuznavi,

Tishani Doshi Tishani Doshi (born 9 December 1975) is an Indian poet, journalist and dancer based in Chennai. In 2006 she won the Forward Prize for her debut poetry book ''Countries of the Body''. Her poetry book ''A God at the Door'' has been shortlisted fo ...

, Carlo Pizzati,

Basharat Peer Basharat Peer ( ks}, born 1977) is a Kashmiri journalist, script writer, and author. Peer spent his early youth in the Kashmir Valley before shifting to Aligarh and then, Delhi for higher education. In August 2006, he relocated from India to ...

, and Hartosh Singh Bal.

2016

The fifth edition of festival was held from 29 January-1 February 2016 in premises of Nepal Tourism Board, Pardi, Pokhara. The festival was inaugurated by retired British Gurkha officer. The festival had writers like

Barkha Dutt Barkha Dutt is an Indian television journalist and author. She has been a reporter and news anchor at NDTV and Tiranga TV. She currently runs her own digital news channel called 'MoJo Story'. She is also an opinion columnist with ''The Hindus ...

, Ira Trivedi,

, Farah Ghuznavi,

Ned Beauman Ned Beauman (born 1985) is a British novelist, journalist and screenwriter. The author of five novels, he was selected as one of the Best of Young British Novelists by ''Granta'' magazine in 2013. Biography Born in London, Beauman is the son of ...

Vinod Mehta Vinod Mehta (31 May 1942 – 8 March 2015) was an Indian journalist, editor and political commentator. He was also the founder editor-in-chief of ''Outlook (Indian magazine), Outlook'' from 1995 to 2012 and had been editor of publications such a ...

including Poet

Uday Prakash Uday Prakash (born 1 January 1952) is a Hindi poet, scholar, journalist, translator and short story writer from India. He has worked as administrator, editor, researcher, and TV director. He writes for major dailies and periodicals as a freelance ...

2017

The sixth edition of festival was held from 29 January-1 February 2017 in premises of Nepal Tourism Board, Pardi, Pokhara . The festival was attended by authors, artists, politicians, media persons, intellectuals, economists, sociologists and attendees. The festival had Indian writer

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. ...

, novelist

Durjoy Datta Durjoy Datta is an Indian author and screenwriter. Early and personal life Durjoy Datta was born on 7 February 1987 in Mehsana, Gujarat, in a Bengali Hindu family, and was brought up in New Delhi. He completed his schooling at the Bal Bharati ...

and poet

. *Full list of festival participants: Aahuti, Aditya Adhikari, Amar Neupane, Amit Dhakal,

Amrit Gurung Nepathya ( ne, नेपथ्य, also spelled as Nepathaya) is a Nepalese folk rock band that was formed in the early 1990s by three students from Pokhara while studying in Kathmandu, Nepal. Nepathya was formed by Deepak Rana, Bhim Poon and A ...

, Amrit Subedi,

Bairagi Kainla Til Bikram Nembang Limbu, professionally known as Bairagi Kainla or Bairagi Kaila, is a Nepalese poet and litterateur. He has served as Chancellor of the Nepal Academy from 2009 (2066 BS) to 2013 (2070 BS).Basanta Basnet Basanta Basnet () is a Nepalese journalist and writer. He is an editor at ''Onlinekhabar'', an online news portal. He started working at ''Onlinekhabar'' since 17 July 2022, after resigning from ''Shilapatra''. Earlier, He worked at Kantipur Nati ...

, Basanta Thapa, Bhupal Rai, Bhupin, Bibek Shrestha (Kandara), Bimal Acharya, Binod Baniya, Birendra Bahadur Basnet, Bishwa Paudel,

Buddhisagar Buddhi Ram Chapain, popularly known as Buddhisagar ( ne, बुद्धिसागर; born 2 June 1981) is a Nepalese writer and poet. He is best known for his novels, ''Karnali Blues'' and '' Phirphire''. Early life Buddhisagar was born on ...

, Chaitanya Mishra, Chandra Kishore, C.K. Lal, Devendra Bhattarai,

Dhruba Chandra Gautam Dhruba Chandra Gautam ( ne, ध्रुवचन्द्र गौतम) is a Nepalese novel writer. He has authored over 60 stories and novels most of which addresses contemporary social issues. He is known as ''Akhyan Purush''(towering per ...

, Dipendra Shrestha,

Gagan Thapa Gagan Kumar Thapa (born 19 July 1976) is a Nepali politician and youth leader, who is the current General Secretary of the Nepali Congress. He is currently serving as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives, Nepal from Kathmandu ...

, Ganess Paudel, Ghanashyam Bhusal, Gunaraj Luitel, Hari Bahadur Gandharba, Hari Bahadur Thapa, Hari Sharma, Harihar Birahi,

Hari Bansha Acharya Hari Bansha Acharya ( ne, हरिवंश आचार्य) is a Nepalese actor, comedian, director, singer and writer. He is known for his method acting. He is one half of the comedy duo MaHa Jodi along with fellow comedian Madan Krishna S ...

, Hima Bista, Ishwor Mani Adhikari, Jiba Lamichhane, Jiwan Kshetri, Kalpana Chiluwal,

Kanak Mani Dixit Kanak Mani Dixit (born 27 January 1956) is a Nepali publisher, editor and writer. He is the founder of the magazine ''Himal Southasian'' and cofounder of Himal Media. Life Dixit was born in Lalitpur. He studied at the Tri Chandra College in K ...

, Kapil Sharma, Kedar Sharma, Kedar Bhakta Mathema,

Khagendra Sangraula Khagendra Sangraula (; born 1946) is a Nepalese writer, novelist and columnist. He has published multiple books and wrote multiple articles for various national dailies. He has also translated many English essays and books including the memoir o ...

, Kiran Nepal, Kripa Joshi (Miss Moti),

Kulman Ghising Kulman Ghising ( ne, कुलमान घिसिङ, ) is the current managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). He is known for solving the load-shedding (power cut) problem, whereby, for decades, the country had power outages ...

, Kumar Nagarkoti, Kusumakar Neupane, Laxmi Sharma, Lochan Rijal,

Madan Krishna Shrestha Madan Krishna Shrestha ( ne, मदन कृष्ण श्रेष्ठ; ) is a Nepali actor, comedian, writer, singer, song writer, director and producer. He is one of the most successful and respected comedians in the Nepali entertainm ...

, Mahesh Bikram Shah, Narayan Dhakal, Namgay Zam, Narayan Gandharba,

Narayan Wagle Narayan Wagle is a Nepali journalist and writer. He served as the editor of '' Kantipur Daily'', one of Nepal's largest circulating newspapers, until 2008, and was the editor of '' Nagarik News'' until 18 May 2012. Wagle won the Madan Puraskar fo ...

, Nayanraj Pandey, Nabaraj Parajuli, Neeva Shah, Omprakash Aryal, Prabha Bhattarai, Pranika Koyu,

Pushkar Shah Pushkar Shah is a Nepalese peace and democracy activist and adventurer. On November 29, 1998 he set off from Dolakha Town, Nepal at the age of 25, for a world bicycle trek. His goal was to spread a message of peace and hope. He has cycled around ...

, Rabindra Adhikari, Rabindra Samir,

Rajan Mukarung Rajan Mukarung ( राजन मुकारुङ; born 24 February 1978) is a writer and novelist of Nepali literature. His novel '' Damini Bhir'' was awarded with Madan Puraskar for the year 2012. He is one of the initiators of the movement c ...

, Rajendra Dahal, Rajendra Parajuli, Rambhakta Jojiju,

Ramchandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics ...

, Raamesh Koirala,

Ramlal Joshi Ramlal Joshi is a Nepalese writer and educator from Dhangadi. In 2016, he won the Madan Puraskar for his short–story collection, '' Aina''. Joshi is a resident of Dhangadhi city in Kailali district of Sudurpashchim province. Previously, he h ...

, Richa Bhattarai, Sabitri Gautam, Samriddhi Rai, Saraswoti Pratikshya, Saraswati Shrestha Saru, Sarita Tiwari, Shakuntla Joshi, Shiva Gaule, Shivani Singh Tharu, Shubha Kayastha, Subin Bhattarai,

Sudheer Sharma Sudheer Sharma () is a Nepalese writer and journalist. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Nepal's largest selling daily Kantipur from 2008 to 2018 and 2019 to till now. He is also the author of best selling books'' Prayogshala'' and ''The Nepal Nexus ...

, Sujit Mahat, Swarnim Wagle, Tirtha Shrestha, Upendra Paudel,

, Yangesh.

2018

The seventh edition of the festival was held on the banks of the Fewa Lake opposite the Ratna Mandir in Pokhara, from December 22 to December 25, 2018. The then Honorable Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari was the Chief Guest of the event. Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif, British illustrator and graphic artist Nicola Streeten, Nepali-Indian author Prajwal Parajuly, Indian writer Namita Gokhale, and Nepali-Canadian writer Manjushree Thapa were some of the panelist at the festival. The festival also had a performance by famous Nepali singer Dharmender Sewan.

2019

The eight edition of the festival was held on two locations. It was held in Janakpur, Nepal on November 8 to November 10 and in Pokhara from December 13 to December 16(). Former

President of Nepal The president of Nepal ( ne, नेपालको राष्ट्रपति, translit=Nēpālakō Rāṣṭrapati) is the head of state of Nepal and the commander-in-chief of the Nepalese Armed Forces. The president is indirectly elected ...

, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav chaired the Janakpur edition of the festival. The first day of the festival was celebrated with Maithili songs and performance and speech by Dr. Yadav, author and critic Hari Sharma, journalist Anil Mishra and Province 2 coordinator of Visit Nepal Year 2020, Manish Jha. On the second day, discussions were held on topics ranging from Chure range to food culture of Madhesh and literature related to Tarai-Hill political dynamic. A session titled ‘Madhesh ko Bhojan’ (the food cultureof Madesh) was held with Gayatri Sharma, Imtiaz Wafa, Kedar Sharma and Gani Ansari in a discussion. The Pokhara edition of the festival was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Gandaki State, Prithivi Subba Gurung. The

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an international literary prize awarded annually to writers of any ethnicity or nationality writing about South AsiaNote: South Asia for the purposes of the prize is defined as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka ...

, 2019 was awarded to Indian writer Amitabh Bagchi for his novel 'Half the Night is Gone' in the presence of the shortlisted authors and the jury panel by Chief Guest

Ishwar Pokhrel Ishwor Pokhrel ( ne, ईश्वर पोखरेल) is the current senior Vice-president of CPN (UML). Pokhrel has also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal. He was also Minister of Defence in the Second Oli cabinet. He also serv ...

, former

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

of Nepal during the festival in Pokhara.

2020

The ninth edition of the festival was held from 28 December to 30 December 2020. Due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, some of the panels were held virtually while some were held in isolated location in

Sarangkot Sarangkot is Ward 18 of Pokhara, Kaski District, Nepal, after it was merged into the city in 2015. It is a popular tourist destination for those who arrive in Pokhara. At the 1991 Nepal census it had a total population of 5,060 with 1,010 individu ...

, Pokhara and streamed digitally on YouTube. List of panelist of the festival Bina Theeng Tamang, Ramesh Bhusal, Chandra Prakash Dhakal, Shilshila Acharya, Rajkumar Baniya, Dr. Rolina Dhital, Roshan Mishra,

Nischal Basnet Nischal Basnet is a Nepali director, actor and playback singer who predominantly works in Nepali cinema. Considered as one of the best director of Nepali cinema, he is widely acclaimed for "revolutionizing Nepali cinema" through his realistic, ...

, Biswo Poudel, Ayushi KC,

Priyanka Karki Priyanka Karki DS Joshi (née Karki) is a Nepalese film actress, model, director and the winner of the Miss Teen Nepal 2005 pageant. Early Life Karki was born in 1987 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Her parents are economist Bhupendra Karki and flig ...

, Rabindra Puri, Sobita Gautam, Swechha Raut, Hari Khanal, Bikesh Kabin, Chandra Prakash Baniya, Durga Karki, Avasna Pandey, Keshab Dahal, Kuber Chalise, Bhaskar Dhungana, Aranico Pandey, Alok Tuladhar, Manushree Mahat, Prithvi Subba Gurung, Kiran Gurung, Manju Devi Gurung, Sita Sundas, Pradip Rodan, Amrit Subedi, Saugat Wagle, Bhavana Tamang, Jagannath Lamichhane, Illya Bhattarai, Yangesh, Bonita Sharma, Deepak Pariyar, Sonika Manandhar, Basanta Basnet, Dr. Anup Subedi, Milan Bagale, Shivani Singh Tharu, Prakriti Bhattarai Basnet, Niranjan Kunwar, Bhikku Kashyap 2022 The 10th edition of Nepal Literature Festival was held in Pokhara from 21 to 26 December 2022. There were 55 diverse sessions over 5 days. The event was a combination of literature, culture, poetry, and music as well as discussions on different topics. This included sports to food, nature to politics, literary translation to creative writing and many more.

References

External links

Official website
{{Nepali literature, state=collapsed Festivals in Nepal Literary festivals in Nepal 2011 establishments in Nepal