Not Every Morning Shows It’s Day!

Not every morning shows it’s day. Samrat is one of those who made it true. Samrat while sharing his journey of writing suddenly dropped his mic on the table and started searching something in his bag. In few minutes he fished out a piece of paper from his bag surprising all of us who were curiously observing him. “77 marks in Nepali and 55 marks in English” he told his scores. The paper happened to be his mark-sheet while in St. Xavier’s.

No one knows who would become who. Samrat is now a professor of Creative Writing in Indiana University and a prolific author. He can be an inspiration to aspiring writers who need discipline in writing more than inspiration itself, in Samrat’s words.

It was pleasant being with enthusiastic readers, aspiring young writers and Samrat!

Following is a report by Supriya Manandhar

Think. Eat. Save.

The Winners of Inter School Essay Writing Competition 2013 are;

(In English Category)

065 E Simon Rawal – FIRST
O79 D Asmita Bhatta -SECOND
096 A Slesha Shrestha -THIRD
093 C Prabin Uprety – FOURTH

(In Nepali Category)

009D Sudip Ghimire – FIRST
021 A Birendra Madai – SECOND
018 C Akriti Ghimire – THIRD
038 C Sabin Lamichane – FOURTH

Congratulations to the winners!

This Inter School Essay Writing Competition is a joint effort of Himalayan Readers’ Bookclub and Nepal Library Foundation to aware youths about Food Insecurity due to current trend of food waste and loss i.e., 1.3 billion tons of food is either being lost or wasted every year according to FAO’s data. This is a campaign for reducing our foodprint to end hunger meanwhile reducing pressure on ecology to produce more food mere to waste!

A Campaign Against Food Wastage!

The Himalayan Readers’ Bookclub and the Nepal Library Foundation are jointly organizing an Inter-School Essay Writing Competition for secondary level students with this year’s UNEP’s theme of ‘Think. Eat. Save. Reduce Your Foodprint’. 

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover!

Last fall a friend of mine visited his hometown Darjeeling, he returned back to Kathmandu along with Darjeelingey churpi and a book. The book’s cover picture was appealing; an innocent child holding her right hand with the left in semi-worried expression wearing woven woolen topi (scalf) and thick clothes. In the background there were blurred mountains. When I read the golden letters “The Gurkha’s Daughter”, images of brave Gorkhali army who fought to keep the sovereignty of Nepal and British Gurkha Army whom late Margaret Thatcher used to often praise came in my mind, and those images were followed by an innocent daughter of the army who might have lost her father in war or been deprived of father’s love.

Interview as genre: Ooni

HRB Author Event

Book: Ooni ; Author:  Ashwini Koirala

On feb 16, Saturday, HRB successfully conducted yet another author event, this time with Ashwini Koirala and his book Ooni (‘she’). Many of the participants stated that before reading the book they had thought it was a novel, with some even presuming the Ooni of the title referred to Mr. Koirala’s significant other, Mrs, Samjhana Koirala (who was also present at the event). However, as opposed to referring to a particular person, the book gathers together many personas: Nepali women from diverse backgrounds. Published by Panch Pokhari Publishing House, Ooni is a compilation of various interviews Mr K conducted from 2057 B.S. to the present day, as a news correspondent. Ooni is currently making ripples in the Nepali literary circles, having sold 7000 copies so far.

What is FACT and what is FICTION?

What is Fact and what is Fiction? To draw a line between them is an Herculean task! But we live in both the fact and the fiction, at times they seem to overlap and we tend to regard fiction as fact! Also, fact could be more dramatic than fiction; fact seems to be fiction!

‘Ghanachakkar’ by Sanjeev Uprety has an articulated potrayal of these two entities. Nevertheless, the most offensive act of some people is doubting on Sanjeev Uprety as the lunatic narrator of Ghanachakkar. Hereby, I would like to take reference of Avi Subedi, “Although I hear people being skeptic on Sanjeev’s sanity, I have not seen any novel written with full consciousness and meticulous mind other than Sanjeev’s Ghanachakkar”.

Lastly, this novel may challenge the validity of history as fact. Can we deny, the chances of histories being mere stories? There lies the question; WHAT IS FACT AND WHAT IS FICTION???

Himalayan Readers’ Bookclub had a wonderful session with Sanjeev Uprety on September 22, 2012 at British Council, Nepal

Femininity: Telling A Tale

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.”
-Alice Walker

Dear readers,

We present a present to you; a floor to discuss on versatile issues of femininity raised in ‘Telling A Tale’. ‘Telling A Tale’ is a collection of autobiographical stories by female narrators. Moreover, it is a collective voice of mothers, sisters, wives, female counter partners or women we see around whose perspectives, feelings, imaginations, experiences are often discarded or unnoticed!

Join us on the event “Femininity: Telling A Tale”

on August 18, 2012
Saturday, 2 pm to 4 pm
British Council
Lazimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal

Anticipating for your participation.

Himalayan Readers’ Bookclub