The much-anticipated Kathmandu Literary Jatra began at the historic Patan Durbar Square Friday. The three day festival brings together national and international writers and thinkers to publicly engage on issues related to Nepal and South Asia, including an appreciation of Nepal’s varied literatures and their authors. Sujeev Shakya, the chairman of the festival and President of Nepal Economic forum, spoke to Anand Gurung of Nepalnews on various aspects of the lit-fest including the literary scene of Nepal and how such events will help enhance it.  Excerpts:

First of all, tell us about the Kathmandu Literary Jatra (KLJ)? How did you come up with the idea of holding such an event?

The idea about holding a literary festival came to me while participating in the Jaipur Literature Festival in India at the beginning of this year. After writing ‘Unleashing Nepal’, I was one among few Nepali authors attending the lit-fest (held in January this year). I was thoroughly impressed by the literature festival in the pink city of Jaipur and thought about organising a similar event in Nepal also. The Jaipur Literature Festival is the biggest literary festival not just in India, but also in Asia. However, as we had never held a literary festival before, I wanted to start from something small, like the literary festivals I had attended in Bhutan and Dehradun, India. I personally took the initiative to organise Kathmandu Literary Jatra through Nepal Economic Forum, a private sector-led advocacy institution, with which I am involved. So I formed a team which included writers like Manjushree Thapa, Sanjeev Uprety and Rabi Thapa, who helped a lot in the programming part of the festival and will also moderate discussion sessions on various topics on the quality of literary works that have come out of Nepal. Suvani Singh of Quixote Cove Book Shop, who is also Director of KLJ, brings her expertise in holding literary events including book launches, writer workshops and book readings in Kathmandu.   Of course, we received inspiration and encouragement from prominent authors like American Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kai Bird who is based in Kathmandu. We were lucky to have Namita Gokhale, advisor for Jaipur festival, as the advisor for this event also.  It is an interesting team and we are confident that this will be a landmark event in the literary scene of Nepal.

What is the main objective behind holding such a literary event?

My personal reason for organising this literary festival is three-fold.  First, I have been a proponent of globalisation. When we talk about globalization in Nepal, I think we only talk about market. But globalisation is also about getting international ideas, thought processes into Nepal and export Nepali art, culture and literature into the global stage. We hope that after festivals like these our Nepali writers and thinkers would also find larger international audience through translation of their works in English and various other languages. Over the three days, Nepali authors will also get to share the platform and interact with their international counterparts on varied literary genres, regional and global issues that matter to them and, most importantly, their writing in a global context. Secondly, I have also been a proponent of increasing use of English language. I think if we are able to make English language more popular in the country through literary events like these then not only our national languages but the literature coming out of Nepal would also benefit from the rich English literary culture. Increasing use of English language will give us access to a wealth of r information and help to articulate in an international language to take our thought processes to a global audience. We can then make the world acknowledge and appreciate the poetry and literature from Nepal including our arts and culture. Thirdly, the Jaipur Literature Festival has done a lot to enhance tourism in Jaipur.  If you hold festivals like these, it will not only attract international writers and artists, but it will perhaps open up a new area for tourism, i.e., high-end tourists. Festivals like these also open up a new process in terms of perhaps organising international cultural events, writer workshops.  If Nepal can host Pulitzer award winner, Man-booker Prize winner, hold international writing workshops, cultural events and also get Nepali writers and artists to work with their international counterparts then that will help bring more international stars, world-renowned musicians, artists and writers into Nepal which will certainly enhance tourism in the country.  At the same time, this is also an opportunity to make literary, art and cultural scene of Kathmandu vibrant and perhaps a crucial step to make it a cultural capital of South Asia. Only this week we had various art exhibitions, book readings, theaters and age-old religious festivals like Indra Jatra. There is so much that is happening here which I don’t see happen in any other South Asian city with such intensity and I think this can do a lot of good for the country.

Will events like Kathmandu Literary Jatra help in building a positive image of Nepal abroad?

The event is already receiving international coverage from the British newspapers like the Independent as well as the BBC, which did a special programme on it. We strongly believe people should know more about Nepal other than the three Ms - the Mountains, Maoists and Massacres – with which Nepal is identified. Perhaps, this festival will give an opportunity for a larger discourse yet to take place in Nepal and build a positive image of Nepal internationally. I see this festival as a catalyst in that respect.

How would literary festivals like these works enhance the Nepali literature and culture and promote it in the world stage?

Literary festivals like these will definitely expand the scope of Nepali literature as a whole.  Nepali authors will get to share the platform with international writers and we hope that some of our writers will get translated in different languages. Hopefully, works in Nepal Bhasa or Maithali will also get translated into English, Hindi and some other language and that works in English or Hindi get translated into Nepali and other regional language of the country. We hope some of our authors would be picked up to be taken to larger festivals like Jaipur and get opportunities to participate in international residencies to broaden their view and creative faculty.  We are just catalyzing a process through which Nepali literature and writers will surely benefit a lot and see major improvements in the quality of literary works produced here. Festivals are platforms for writers to meet, interact, share ideas and also publishers to meet writers and identify potential talents.  Very much like fashion designer Prabal Gurung who has been able to create such a sensation in the New York fashion see, we hope we will see more Nepali writers get recognized internationally. We hope this literary festival will bring about a paradigm shift in Nepali literature and also work to improve the idea, content and theme of Nepali literary works. Â

Being a writer yourself and a noted columnist can you share your observation about how Nepali literature has come of age?

I think in the last ten years we have seen a great growth in creative writing in Nepal. And we have had many publishers willing to experiment with Nepali modern day writing. Earlier, to even get your book published was difficult. Today writers can make their living solely from writing. It may still not be so for Nepali writers writing in English, but it is definitely so for those writing in Nepali in Nepal. But with authors like Samrath Upadhyay and Manjushree Thapa making their mark abroad, it will not be long when we start seeing Nepali writers writing in Nepali as well as English gaining international recognition.

How will Nepali society as a whole benefit from a literary event like this?

The Kathmandu Literary Jatra is going to give an opportunity to information hungry Nepalis to interact, listen and learn. It is going to start a lot of discourse and discussions among writers, intellectuals, academicians, professionals and people from various walks of life. Hopefully, we will see different perspectives towards any given issue. So I think it would definitely help in the larger socio-political discourse that is happening in Nepal society currently as the country looks forward to drafting of a new constitution and conclusion of the peace process. A society makes develops and grows when it becomes pluralistic. Nepal needs to develop as a pluralistic society where we are tolerant to opposing views and ideas. So festivals like these would bring in the right kind of discourse and make people understand that it is okay to disagree or criticize someone, but we have to also respect their right to hold such views, that you don’t have to kill or hurt people just because you disagree with them. This would certainly bring in a new level of tolerance and a huge help to make Nepal a pluralistic society. nepalnews.com