PROMOTING NEPALI LITERATURE ABROAD

       Promoting Nepali Literature Abroad 
(International Literary Conference in Ho Chi Minh City)

(published in the Rising Nepal Friday Supplement June 6th, 2014)

 Sandhya Regmi representing Nepal in the International Literary Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Dec 20^th -23^rd , 2013 

Sandhya Regmi with the vice-dean of the HCMCSSH Dr. Hoa Tran

 Sandhya Regmi
(Nepali Literary Ambassador to Vietnam )

Since the very beginning of my professional life I have been contributing to the literary world through my articles both in the Nepali and the English language in newspapers and magazines, and throughout my stay abroad, I have been highly influenced by the literature of the host country, and —being a literary writer myself — have played my part to introduce and promote Nepal’s literature through various available means to those countries. Hence my visit abroad has always been special because it has been not only for a vacation but also to represent Nepal internationally.

To me, literature is not only an instrument for expressing sentiments and providing entertainment, but also a benchmark for calibrating cultural and social prosperity of the nation and impetus for political and social change. Moreover, I have always seen possibilities of social networking and program for literary exchange and interaction—in the global context. This on one hand gives opportunities to writers from different nations—with diverse cultural, social, and religious background—to introduce themselves and their literary works to the international literary world, and on other hand serves as an intellectual forum to express and discuss ideas, opinions, suggestions, and proposals to preserve and promote our art, culture, language and literature.

In December 2013 I was formally invited by the Vice-Dean of Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences & Humanities to participate in the International Literary Conference in Vietnam. The conference entitled “Literature in the Globalization Context of the 21^st Century” was sponsored by the Japan Foundation. This was indeed a golden opportunity for emerging writers like me to broaden the knowledge in literary fields through presentation, discussion and interaction coordination.

The conference was a big success to both the national and international participants related to literature and literary works in acquiring information in depth on pre-modern as well as modern global literature. It additionally served as an excellent informative and educational platform on masterpiece literary works of the participating countries not only to the academicians and scholars of literature but also to the young university students in their strenuous journey of learning.

Attendance by the Consular General of Japan and the Director of the Japan Foundation Centre for Cultural Exchange and their congratulatory speech added extra merits, attraction and significance to the conference. The conference’s concluding remarks by the vice-dean of HCMC University was both emotionally and intellectually brilliant and thought-provoking.  

The conference was divided into 3 panels for paper presentation as well as discussion. The classification was based on the topic of the paper, and each panel contained 19 presentations. All the 3 panels ran simultaneously on a single day in 3 different halls hitting the record of a total of 57 presentations being accomplished in one day. This was in fact a big achievement made by the conference organizer. It gave the opportunity to broaden our knowledge in diverse topics of pre-modern and contemporary literature in today’s global context in a short duration of a couple of days which otherwise would have taken an individual reader months and even years of concentrated efforts.

                                                               

As the only participant representing Nepal in the huge gathering of prominent poets, writers, international academicians, professors, and educational professionals from USA, Japan, Thailand, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, I had the pride of introducing Nepali literature, prominent Nepali literary figures and Nepali literary masterpieces to the vast literary world. Particularly I emphasized on the three legendary icons of Nepali literature. These demigods of Nepali literature are: late Laxmi Prasad Devkota who is awarded 'Mavakavi' (the great poet), late Lekhnath Poudel who is rewarded 'Kavi Shiromani' (the gem of all the poets), and late Bal Krishna Sama who is often regarded as ‘the Shakespeare of Nepal’ due to his famous play-writings.

Additionally, this conference served as an excellent chance to shake hands and start foundation for building friendship-bridges. Moreover, it also provided me the chance to present 75 pieces of Nepali-literature books as gift to the library of the Department of Oriental Studies of HCMC University introducing the prominent Nepali literary figures and their literary masterpieces to the literary world of Vietnam and proposing for translation into Vietnamese language the prominent works of Nepalese Writers - 1) “Jeewan Kanda Ki Phool” (A Flower in the Midst of Thorns) by Jhamak Ghimire, 2) “Sireesh Ko Phool” (Blue Mimosa) by Parijat, and 3) “Seto Bagh” (Wake of the White Tiger) by Diamond Shamsher.  

 Though translation of a large body of Nepali literature is now available in English, Nepali literature remains largely unknown to the global literary community and hence has not been able to draw the attention of the world. I am of the opinion, for Nepali literary works to be made easily accessible to the international world, a translation organization has to be established at the national level which should make a team of experts who work fairly and impartially while selecting the master-pieces for translation into English and other languages, and hire highly professional and capable translators to do the translation and such literary works should be promoted abroad. Limited individual effort and lack of professionalism with limited resources are insufficient to promote the Nepali Literature internationally. Nepal should also take membership in the International Translation Organization established in 1953 under the UNESCO consisting of 155 member countries in which over 80,000 professional translators and language experts are working. 

In today's world of Information Technology and globalization, the language, culture, literature and art do not and should not remain isolated within a national boundary. They must be made accessible to the international world to foster unity in diversity. Its benefit is obvious. It is recommended to organize such international literary conferences also in Nepal as a regular event, say on an annual basis, so that the whole process gets opportunity for continuity, consolidation, and further prosperity in coming days.