| ashu |
Posted
on 30-Dec-01 09:14 PM
Hi all,
Just a short note to inform you all that
Martin Chautari organization and the Godavari Alumni Association (GAA) have joined forces to host Samrat Upadhyay, the Cleveland-Ohio based Nepali
author of "Arresing God in Kathmandu" ko public lecture.
Date: Friday, January 4th at 4 pm.
Venue: GAA Hall, Thamel, Kathmandu.
Public is warmly invited.
Admission: FREE
Samrat is expected to talk about his writing career, and about his books.
Samrat's book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-0451596-4133642
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| ashu |
Posted
on 01-Jan-02 09:22 PM
Biswo,
I'll see what I can do re: this.
But no promises.
On another note, Martin Chautari is hosting a sahitya-discussion on Tuesday January 29th on: Manjushree Thapa's debut novel "Tutor of History".
I haven't read that book yet, but those of you who have, feel free to post your questions/thoughts here so that they can be forwarded either to Manju herself or to the folks at Chautari running that discussion.
I am looking for a way to get more and more people in Nepal excited about this Web site, but am getting mixed results, in part because, I suppose, this medium of insant gratification [among others :-)] is still a "kay-ho, kay-ho" medium to 27-or-over crowd here!!
But, hey, one keeps on trying, taking one day at a time.
Hope you all had had a great New Year celebrations!!
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| ashu |
Posted
on 04-Jan-02 07:58 AM
A summary:
The hall at GAA was filled to capacity.
Historian Pratyoush Onta introduced Samrat, and the GAA president Mahendra Man Sakya (Honda) welcomed all to GAA.
Samrat started by paying homage to his high school -- St. Xavier's, especially to his old English teachers Fr. James J. Donnelly (who was present at this talk) and
to Fr. Watrin for giving him strong foundations in English language. He also spoke highly of his parents who encouraged his various creative pursuits. He also talked about working on The Godavarian, the school magazine at St. Xavier's, under Bro. Harris ko supervision.
Samrat said that he used to read a lot as a youngster. He started out reading Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, and then moving on to Harold Robbins,
James Hadley Chase and so on in high school. He said that he started writing seriously, and started thinking writing as a career when he was 27. He's now, what, 37 or so?
Samrat's speech made main points:
First, he finds writing difficult. There are days, he says, when he just sits there, and stares at the computer and nothing, nothing would come out, and that he
has to struggle with himself to write something, anything. He said that this idea that a writer can just sit there and write effortlessly, and make his first draft come out perfectly is a big myth. He went on to say that he is a "revision freak", and that endlessly revises his writings.
Second, writing for him is a process. He starts his stories with no clear outlines
and lets his writings pull him to whatever directions his plots, characters, scenes, and endings take him. In other words, he starts with an image or two, and builds his stories in an improvise-as-you-go-along mode. This, he says, works for him, but may not work for others.
Third, he also said that for him writing is a social act: this is how he makes sense of the world around him. This is how he maintains a sort of "religious" (his word) temperament so as to be involved deeply with his work, and to share his writings with others.
********
Apart from a few privately mailed-from-the-US copies here and there, Samrat's book is NOT available in bookstores in Kathmandu. Samrat regretted the unavailability of his book here.
He said that his publishers -- Houghton, Mifflin in Boston -- has all the foreign rights, and the way these things work is that they are looking to sell those rights to a British publisher, who would then sell the rights to an Indian publisher, and who, in turn, would finally supply the books to Kathmandu bookstores. Unless
you are someone big like Amitav Ghosh, the chances of a British publisher
picking up the rights of your published-in-the-US book are slim, said Samrat.
For his new book -- a novel due out in 2003 -- he said that he will make sure that he will reserve all the rights, and then sell those rights directly to a Nepal-based publisher.
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