Nepal Literature Festival kicks off

The second edition of the Ncell Nepal Literature Festival-2012 began on Thursday with national and international writers, academicians, journalists, and experts discussing various topics ranging from literature, theatre, film, language, sociology, economics to history.

Veteran Indian journalist (former editor of Outlook news magazine) Vinod Mehta (left) speaking...

The four-day festival began with Speech by Chancellor of the Nepal Academy Bairagi Kaila and a keynote address by Prof Abhi Subedi, a well-known writer, columnist and linguist.

The festival has brought together over 100 eminent writers, literary figures, and opinion-makers from Nepal and abroad including Dhruba Chandra Gautam, Jagdish Ghimire, Chaitanya Mishra, Khagendra Sangraula and Bhuwan Dhungana hold forth on various topics on more than 40 innovative and interactive sessions.

International authors include the revered Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyay, the bestselling Amish Tripathi and Advaita Kala, the Indian-Nepali writer Mana Prasad Subba, who is also a Sahitya Academy winner.

In the course of four days, the festival will have panel discussions, poetry recitals, book launches and signings, author meets, and much more.

The sole sponsor of the Festival, Ncell, the leading telecommunication company in Nepal, said the literary festival reaffirms its commitment to the slogan ‘Here for Nepal’ by continuing its financial support towards the promotion of Nepali literature.

The Festival Director, Ajit Baral said, “We have been organizing programs to further the much needed literary discourse in Nepal for long. This Festival is an extension of such efforts. We believe that this Festival will create a virbrant literary culture in Nepal.”

Day 1 saw renowned columnist CK Lal, lyricist Nayan Raj Pandey and actress Jharana Bajracharya holding discussion on wide-ranging issues and topics including the changing Nepali society, Nepali songs, music and lyricis and language of Nepali literature.

The inaugural edition of the Festival was well-received by the audience and writers with an attendance of over 5,000 strong audience.

International writers like Mark Tully, Indra Bahadur Rai and Ira Trivedi, in addition to over 60 eminent Nepali writers including Sarubhakta, Sharada Sharma, Abhi Subedi, Dhruba Chandra Gautam and Jagadish Ghimire had graced the inaugural edition that spread over 25 sessions. This year’s program promises to be bigger and better with more than 100 writers participating in over 40 parallel sessions during four days.

Organized by The BookwormTrust in partnership with the Nepal Academy, the Festival is being held from September 20 to 23 in the premises of the Nepal Academy at Kamaladi, Kathmandu. Nepalnews.com