| Nirala Authors |
|
Yuyutsu RD Sharma
Recipient of
fellowships and grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, Ireland
Literature Exchange, Trubar Foundation, Slovenia,
The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature and The
Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature,
Yuyutsu RD Sharma is a distinguished poet and translator.
He has
published eight poetry collections including, Space Cake, Amsterdam,
& Other Poems from Europe and America, (Howling Dog Press, Colorado,
2009), Annapurna Poems, (Nirala, New Delhi 2008), Everest
Failures (White Lotus Book Shop, Kathmandu, 2008)
www.WayToEverest.de: A photographic and Poetic Journey to the Foot of
Everest, (Epsilonmedia, Germany, 2006) with German photographer
Andreas Stimm and a translation of Irish poet Cathal O’ Searcaigh poetry
in Nepali in a bilingual collection entitled, Kathmandu: Poems,
Selected and New, 2006. He has translated and edited several
anthologies of contemporary Nepali poetry in English and launched a
literary movement, Kathya Kayakalpa (Content Metamorphosis) in Nepali
poetry.
A collection
of his poems in Slovenian translation, entitled, Jezero Fewa in Konj
has just come out from the Sodobnost International Press, Ljubljana. A
collection of his poems in French, Entitled, Poemes de l’ Himalayas
shall appear from Harmattan, Paris in the Fall, 2009. Widely traveled author, he has read his works at several prestigious places including Poetry Café, London, Seamus Heaney Center for Poetry, Belfast, Western Writers' Center, Galway, Bowery Poetry Place, New York, The Kring, Amsterdam, P.E.N. Paris, Knox College, Illinois, Whittier College, California, Baruch College, New York, WB Yeats' Center, Sligo, Gustav Stressemann Institute, Bonn, Rubin Museum, New York, Irish Writers’ Centre, Dublin, The Guardian Newsroom, London, Arnofini, Bristol, Borders, London, Slovenian Book Days, Ljubljana, Royal Society of Dramatic Arts, London, Gunter Grass House, Bremen, GTZ, Kathmandu, Ruigoord, Amsterdam, Nehru Center, London, Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Indian International Center, New Delhi, and Villa Serbelloni, Italy.
He has held
workshop in creative writing and translation at Queen's University,
Belfast, and South Asian Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany. |
|
Praise for Yuyutsu RD Sharma’s Works The ‘blinding snows of the Annapurnas ridge’ inspire a poetry that confronts natural magnificence with exuberant humanity. Yuyutsu R D Sharma’s generous vision embraces not only the landscape and its people but the lesser fauna, like the pigeons that speak ‘a kind of hushed speech that robbers might use’ and the mules on the Tibetan salt route, exhausted and bow-legged from hauling ‘cartons of Iceberg, mineral water bottles,/ solar heaters, Chinese tiles, tin cans…’ These vividly coloured, muscular and energetic poems have an atmosphere of freshness, as though the snow itself had rinsed and brightened them. Like the ‘waterfall beds that/ smelled of the birth of fresh fish’, they have the tangy, dust-free odour of language born of lived experience. Carol Rumens, The United Kingdom
Yuyutsu RD Sharma brings the bracing airs of the Himalayas to any city. His vigorous, expansive and elemental poems leave Yeti tracks on the streets and mule trails on the Tube. They are packed with rapturous couplings of the urban and the feral. Pascale Petit, Former Poetry Editor, Poetry London
Yuyutsu is a first-rate poet in English and an excellent place to begin if you want to get in touch with Nepalese writing today. William Seaton, in Bylines Interview
Yuyutsu’s subject is the intertwinement of the social and geographic, namely, how even the Himalayas were dirtied and damaged by partisan politics. In the poems, sacred energy appears in sexual, rather than theological, form; his incredibly tangy descriptions of crags and cliff faces swell with eroticism. Jim Feast in The Brooklyn Rail, New York
Each poem is a delight in itself, a discovery, a new turn of phrase, a new sensation, a world of sound and light, and visions all colliding against each other to provide an unexpected and haunting experience. David Clark in Exiled Ink, London
Yuyutsu RD lives close to Everest. His poetry climbs mountains, swims in rivers, and paints the falling leaves in copper. This tango with nature also occurs when Yuyutsu RD closes the window for a moment… Ronny Someck in Iton77, Tel Aviv
The poems… are shining jewels of passion, energy and splendid craft, redolent with vivid, dreamlike visual imagery, strengthened by realistic observation and powered by strong male eroticism. His is an unabashed return to the male gaze that is refreshing and solemn by turns, reminding one of the stirring sounds of rolling drums, and beating rain… Sucheta Das Gupta in The Himalayan Times, Kathmandu
A fiercely sublime poet …the book confirms an enormous talent, as well as purity of purpose with which he approaches his calling. Lines jump out, burning themselves into your consciousness. Eddie Woods in Amsterdam Weekly
With this buoyantly audacious work, Yuyutsu RD should be assured of his place in the canon of Asian poetry. In this new volume, he conveys the people and places, the flora and fauna of the Annapurna area of Nepal with an exhilaratingly fresh vision. It is poetry where pastoral elegy becomes fused with magic realism; where earthy common-sense mysticism becomes interlaced with a lush sexuality. The book is a voluptuous and loving evocation of Nepal and I admire its dramatic intensity. Cathal O Searcaigh, Ireland
Yuyutsu RD Sharma’s poetry runs clear, tender, and passionate with a rage that often erupts volcanic in the face of the cruelty, despair, and injustice that saddles the disenfranchised poor of the earth. Poems powerful and devastating, yet gentle as flower petals wafting to earth in a summer breeze. Michael Annis, senior editor, Howling Dog Press, Colorado
This is what Asiaweek has to say of Yuyutsu’s translations of Nepali poetry: ‘… magnificent achievement evoking lives of Nepalese peasants while remaining highly readable… The reader will come away breathless from these short, wonderfully concentrated poems’
These vivid and readable translations show the poets coming to terms both with political development and with the influence of Western modernism in literature. — Allen W. Thrasher, Library of Congress, Washington DC
Young, versatile energetic, he is rocking and rolling with new impressions... Yuyutsu’s poetry touches on concerns of global matters, acknowledging that we can never with violence create a Utopia or “construct a gorgeous pagoda from/furious flames/and whistling winds … Such lines capture for me the futility of the Iraq War, which I refuse to dignify with its official title, even more euphemistic and tainted with doublethink than earlier misadventures. We can’t build even a humble pagoda from furious flames and whistling winds. — David Ray, The United States of America
“Yuyutsu R.D. brings to the Indian readers a distinct flavor of the Nepalese landscape and culture, in a sequence of poems that pulsate with needle-sharp images—Equally sensitive is his language that, scrupulously avoids stilted diction-words or phrases. His writing is so densely imagistic that he holds reader’s attention all the way through. Behind plethora of packed images is a genuine concern for the human predicament the trials and tribulations of the destitute everywhere. Hunger is the theme that runs as an under current-hunger that gnaws into the vitals of both humans and animals.” —Shiv K. Kumar in The Hindustan Times
“Something is always happening in Yuyutsu’s poetry. Like some burning concern for truth, something that, I think, a poem should do. For this, we owe Yuyutsu much. — Jayanta Mahapatra, Cuttack, India
Yuyutsu has a good eye and a good ear: The rain stopped in the jungle. The cicada stopped its chirr. To have an ear for a sudden silence in unique. — Keki N. Daruwala in The Hindustan Times
“Yuyutsu’s poetry has long been a part of the Nepalese consciousness: We use his more aphoristic lines as a paradigm of contemporary Nepali political and social changes.” —The Kathmandu Post
Some Female Yeti is a tribute to the various changing as well as timeless aspects of the Himalayan Kingdom. There is crippling touch of stark and naked reality in these poems. They remind us of the time when women were raped, men were killed and human rights were abused. Yes, some of the poems deal with the democratic upsurge and its aftermath in Nepal.” — Connection
“It is an agony ride through the darkness of modern times. The symbols are powerful and disturbing, the metaphors violent. The female Yeti becomes as icon for man’s sexual angst... This collection marks an important phase in the poet’s evolution, revealing a more mature poet in terms of symbol, diction and style. ‘Hitting notes of a secret language of lust’, Yuyutsu has made his poetic presence felt.” —The Observer
“...Highly vibrant portrayal of the individual’s existential issues, ranging from the mundane deprivations to the primordial lust and passion, anguish and anger… Equally powerful is the author’s projection of the public life in all its shenanigans, conspiracies and treachery. The most redeeming aspect of Yuyutsu’s poetry is his powerful writing style that brings forth the human experience directly without the binds of sophistication that tends to dissipated original spirit. The rawness of his writing is so exhilarating; it brings the full flavor of the locale to the sense.” —The Rising Nepal
Yuyutsu’s poetry is the poetry of agony and anger. It does not soothe; it shocks. It does not lull; it awakens the reader to a reality he is least bothered about. Also, it has a distinct native flavor: maize fields, bare cots, hearths, querns, mud-plastered wall, and a grain of monsoon. It is different from the poetry of those who roll in the labyrinth of inner life or rejoice in the cities where skyscrapers bloom. His poetry is evidently akin to the regional literatures he is familiar with, Punjabi, Hindi and Nepali. — The Indian Literature
In Yuyutsu R.D.’s poems you can feel nature — the rainbow, the river, the day and night. Nature is a metaphor to express human agony and Yuyutsu draws this situation in strong and rich colors. In his poems about poetry, Yuyutsu metaphors are galloping, noble and wild. He shows us other specials ways we need in the face of poetry. — Ronny Someck, Israel
Yuyutsu R. D. is a superbly gifted poet. His volumes may be small in size but they are massive in scope and immense in vision. His poems are lovely artifacts of craft and ardor, patiently distilled perceptions; finely polished insights. I love the lyric accuracy of his Lake Fewa poems. They are linguistically taut and melodically lithe. Heart stunning stuff where every word tells, where every line flows. It is clear that Yuyutsu R. D. loves the heave and surge of language; the swell and swirl of syllables; the roll and rush of sound. In these poems, he rafts the roaring river of language with the whirl and whoosh of a true master rafter.
— Cathal
Ó Searcaigh, Ireland |
|
Ronny Someck
Distinguished Hebrew poet, Ronny Someck was born in Baghdad in
1951. He came to Israel as a young child. He studied Hebrew literature
and philosophy at Tel Aviv University and drawing at the Avni Academy of
Art. Someck has worked with street gangs, and currently teaches
literature and leads creative writing workshops.
Recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award, the Yehuda Amichai Award for Hebrew Poetry, the Wine Poem Award in Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia, 2005 and Hans Berghhuis prize for poetry 2006 in the Maastricht International Poetry Nights, Holland. Someck has recorded with the musician Elliott Sharp 3 CD’s: “Revenge of the stuttering Child”, “Poverty Line” and “Short History of Vodka.” In 1998, he made an exhibition “Nature’s Factory, Winter 2046" with Beny Efrat in Israel Museum. Similarly, his exhibitions,” Hawadja Bialik” (2004) and “Rehal Madrid (2007) took place in The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat-Gan.
He is a
member of the Public Council of Batsheva Dance Company and the Hebrew-
Arabic Theatre He lives in Ramat-Gan with his wife and daughter. |
|
Evald Flisar Evald Flisar remains Slovenia’s bestselling author of novels and short stories, and internationally performed playwright today.
Flisar studied comparative literature at the University of Ljubljana and English (including English Lit.) at Chiswick Polytechnic in London and has traveled in over 80 countries, mostly in the Third World. Between travels he worked (among other things) as an underground train driver in Sydney, Australia, and executive editor of the Marshall Cavendish Encyclopedia of Science and Invention in London. He has written what some literary experts regard as the best travel books in Slovene so far, a cult novel, Čarovnikov vajenec (Going Away with a Wild Tiger), reprinted seven times, eight other novels (four of them short listed for Best Novel of the Year Award, one filmed for TV), two collections of short stories, numerous radio plays and fifteen stage plays, all of which have been produced professionally at home and (some) in many countries abroad, including London’s West End.
Winner of the highest awards for both prose and drama, Flisar is editor of the oldest Slovenian literary magazine Sodobnost, founded in 1933. From 1995 to 2002 (at one of the most crucial moments in the 130-year history of this organization) he was president of the Slovene Writers’ Association. Although Flisar’s prose figures prominently on the national literary scene, he has achieved his greatest success, especially internationally, as a playwright. His most successful play, Tomorrow (Prešeren Fund Award, highest State award for literature), originally broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and later produced on stage in as many as eighteen countries, has been described by a British critic as “a brilliant absurdist comedy showing the birth of the postmodern society”, and most recently by Austrian critics as “a theatrical wonder” and “a masterpiece’. His more recent play, Nora Nora (Best Play of the Year Award, 2004) caused a scandal when produced in Arabic translation at the Hanager Art Centre in Cairo. Another great success at home and abroad remains his play, What about Leonardo? which bagged Prešeren Fund Award, Best Play of the Year Award) and The Times critic, Jeremy Kingston after its London production described it as “an unforgettable study of a man out of touch with himself”. The play has been produced on professional stages as far apart as Iceland and Indonesia (where the legendary Teater Koma’s January 2008 productions (Kenapa Leonardo?) engendered an intense public debate, with page-long reviews in at least 20 newspapers and with a Google search producing more than 30.000 entries within days of the play’s opening).
Forthcoming productions of Flisar’s plays are pending in many parts of the world, most notably in Tokio, Japan (Gesshoku Kagekidan Theatre, What about Leonardo?), Calcutta, India (Ganakrishti Theatre Company, Shakuntala 2009) and Graz, Austria, where his Eleventh Planet will open at Theater im Keller on October 22, 2008. Over the next four years, Theater im Keller, which has already presented Tomorrow and Nora Nora, is planning to produce five more plays by Evald Flisar, crowning the project with What about Leonardo? in 2011 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its founding. Flisar’s latest play remains Antigone 2010, a documentary, which he was commissioned to write for the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana.
His works have been translated into English, Dutch,
German, Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French,
Danish, Icelandic, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Russian, Hungarian,
Greek, Lithuanian, Turkish, Arabic, Malay, Indonesian, Hindi, Bengali,
Marathi, Nepali and Japanese. |
|
Larry Peters Dr. Larry Peters is a world renowned scholar and initiated shaman in the Tibetan tradition.
Dr. Peters has published extensively on shamanism, conducts workshops on Tibetan Shamanism in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and leads experiential Initiation Journeys to Nepal.
In 1999, his highly acclaimed book, Tamang Shamans: An Ethnopsychiatric Study of Ecstasy and Healing in Nepal appeared in the Nirala Series. His second book, Trance, Initiation and Psychotherapy in Nepalese Shamanism: Essays on Tamang and Tibetan Shamanism was published in 2004 in the same series. His pioneering research, Yeti: Spirit of Himalayan Forest Shamans came a year after.
Dr. Peters is a professor of Anthropology and Psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Southern California. He was a Regents Fellow at the University of California and the recipient of an NIMH post-doctoral research grant at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute.
A former Board Member of the Association of Transpersonal Psychology and the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, Dr. Peters is a Field Research Fellow for the Foundation of Shamanic Studies, and a licensed psychotherapist in the State of California.
Dr. Peters leads experiential study groups to Nepal several times each year to learn about shamanism in its authentic context.
The author of five books and many dozen articles, Ode to Dreams is Dr. Peters' favorite. |
|
Ramanand Rathi Distinguished Hindi writer from Rajasthan was born in a small village, Gunti of the Raath province on Jaipur- Delhi highway.
Rathi began his career as Zoologist at Rajasthan University but soon quit his prestigious research position and became a free lance fiction writer and a journalist.
His published books, include Eek Sakshaheen Maut, Short Stories, (Panchsheel Prakashan, Jaipur,) Kala Ke Sarokar, a collection of essays by leading Hindi writers on contemporary art and aesthetics (Rachna Prakashan, Jaipur), Gunti ka Antim Pathaan, (Kalamkar, Jaipur), Vishambhar Dayal: Sashatra Kranti ke Rajasthani Mahanayak, a biography of the Indian freedom fighter from Rajasthan and several books on the cultural heritage of the Raath Province of Rajasthan.
His work has been translated into several languages including Nepali, Gujrati, Urdu, Punjabi, and French and Nirala has published a Selection of his short stories in English as Dying in Rajasthan. Nirala shall soon publish his travelogue on Nepal, entitled, Kaath ke Kanpte Ghar. Advisor to several literary and cultural institutes, Rathi is working on his collection of new short stories and his lives in New Delhi and Jaipur. |
|
LB Thapa
Well-known journalist and scholar, L.B.Thapa was born in Bhopal, India, in 1966 and was educated at Bhopal University where in 1990 he received a Postgraduate Degree in Economics.
Thapa also learnt Karate at very young age and briefly worked in several Bollywood movies as a stuntman. He has black belt Second Don in karate. He came to Nepal, his motherland, in 1991 and taught at several education institutes but gave up the teaching few years ago.
Thapa has been contributing regularly to The Rising Nepal, The Himalayan Times and several other newspapers.
He lives in Pokhara, with his wife and son. |