New York Writers Workshop and Himalayan Literature Festival to kick off

New York Writers Workshop, an alliance of published authors and professional writers based in New York City is organizing an international literary conference and workshop in Kathmandu starting on May 22 in partnership with White Lotus Book Shop, Lalitpur. The workshop shall be accentuated with Himalayan Literature Festival on May 27 and 28 at Kathmandu Guest House where the workshop writers will be showcasing their literary productions from the workshop- from memoir pieces to poetry and other forms of literature.

As per the Festival director Shreejana Bhandari, over thirty-five international authors and faculties will be participating in the Kathmandu Workshop as well as Himalayan Literature Festival. The first edition of the Himalayan Literature Festival shall encompass panel discussions, poetry readings in various languages, book launches and interactions. Yuyutsu RD Sharma, the curator of Himalayan Literature Festival as well as the Himalayan poet played a pivotal role in persuading the New York Writers Workshop team to organize the new edition of Workshop and Conference in Kathmandu and begin an international literature festival in its true sense.

As per Tim Tomlinson, President of New York Writers Workshop and Bhandari, director of the Himalayan Literature Festival, the festival shall feature authors Lourdes Rodriguez Tomlinson and Dr. Ravi Shankar, faculties such as Jami Proctor Xu, Poet, Essayist, Translator, Julie Krishnan-Williams, International Photographer, Dr. Tony Barnstone, Professor at Whitƫer College, California.

The Workshop and Literature Festival will also feature the Polish poets Son Van and Dariusz Lebioda; Panamanian poet Gorka Lasa; South African poet and performer JahRose Jafta; US poets Ruth Danon, Peter Allenspach and his wife Da Mao; English poet Maria Claire Heath; Greek poet, writer, and educator Vasilis Manousakis; Hindi novelist, Pankaj Bisht; Indian poet and scholar K Satchidanandan; Hong Kong writer and performer Neville Sarony; Brian Hou, photographer, and Jane Houng, musician, writer, philanthropist, from Hong Kong; writer and university professor from NYU Abu Dhabi, Piia Mustamaki; Australian writer Lizzie Packer; as well as aspiring writers Kathleen Butler, Kathryn Kempf, Ann Gordon, Nancy Parish, and Marianne Sciberras.

In addition, over three dozen Nepalese authors including Dwarika Shrestha, Narayan Wagle, Shailendra Sakar, Raj Kumar Baniya, Deepak Sapkota, Manoj Dahal, Sarad Pradhan, Narayan Dhakal, Shyam Rimal, Amar Aakash, Bhuwan Thapaliya, Vijay Gurung, Rajani Mila and others will be joining the festival and some of them shall be interacting on various themes in Nepali literature as the panelists. The festival is dedicated to the great Nepali poet Gopal Prasad Rimal and his contributions to the Nepali literature will be discussed as well as the English translations of his works shall be made public.