Twentieth issue of 'Of Nepalese Clay' launched

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PAN Asia: Promoting literature and art, defending freedom of expression 

The twentieth issue of the literary publication 'Of Nepalese Clay' was launched amid a special event on 30th November 2013 at the premises of IACER, Old Baneshwor, Kathmandu. It was  released jointly by Professor Dr. Mohan Lohani, Professor Dr. Padma Devkota, and Professor Dr. Amma Raj Joshi. This issue of the bi-annual literary publication of the Society of Nepali Writers in English (NWEN) contains a collection of poems, short fiction, essays, criticisms and memoirs by noted authors from Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Slovenia, Australia, Haiti and USA.

With this issue, 'Of Nepalese Clay' marks its thirteenth year of publication. The first issue of the publication was launched in April 2001 and has included significant literary creations over the years, thus becoming one of the longest-standing English literary publications in the country. Along with the regular creative contents, the highlights of the twentieth issue are critical contemplations about literature in English published from Nepal. The 20th issue of ‘Of Nepalese Clay’ was  edited jointly by Bal Bahadur Thapa, Keshab Sigdel and Prakash Subedi. Sigdel and Subedi are also  members of PANAsia Creativity Group.
During the launching programme, different poets and writers, including Basanta Lohani, Laxmi Devi Raj Bhandari, Rabi Thapa, Sewa Bhattarai, Avinashi Poudel, L.B. Chhetri, Chirag Bangdel, and Iswar Kadel, recited their poems and short stories.
'Of Nepalese Clay' is the brainchild of the Society of Nepali Writers in English (NWEN), a writer's forum dedicated to promoting the literary creative writing of Nepali writers writing originally in English. NWEN was conceived on December 9, 2000, and formally registered on February 9, 2001. It was established by a group of writers and academicians as an organized body of Nepali writers writing originally in English to achieve the objectives of creating a sense of national identity through literature, cultural interaction and activities and promoting international understanding and amity through cultural exchanges.
To achieve these objectives, NWEN organizes regular poetry and other literary reading sessions, talks, symposia, writing workshops and competitions. Its most popular feature is the monthly poetry reading session, which takes place on the last Saturday of every English month, in which  poets and audience gather to listen to and savor poetry. In line with its aim of publishing anthologies of creative and critical works in English, apart from its regular biannual literary journal, NWEN has published anthologies of individual authors. Besides this, NWEN also facilitates the publication of poets and writers in English medium journals, magazines, and newspapers.


Contributors to Clay 20
Poems:

Ammaraj Joshi, Anuja Ghimire, Avinashi Paudel, Barun Bajracharya, Basanta Lohani, Bhuwan Thapaliya, Bina Shrestha, Chirag Bangdel, Dan Disney (Australia), Daya Dissanayake (Sri Lanka), Diane Smith (USA), Gopal Prasad Bashyal, Gopi Sapkota, Gregor Preac (Slovenia), Han Soun-Boh (South Korea), Hem Raj Kafle, Himanshu Keshav, Ishwar Prasad Kadel, Jiwan Kshetry, Kaiser Haq (Bangladesh), Keshab Sigdel,
L. B. Chhetri, Laxmi Devi Rajbhandari, Mohammad Nurul Huda (Bangladesh), Niran Khanal, Prakash Mani Dahal, Prakash Subedi, Sachendra Manandhar, Santosh Lamichhane, Saraswoti Lamichhane, Sewa Bhattarai, Shreedhar Lohani, Sunita Lama (India), Toru Kiuchi (Japan), Toshio Kimura (Japan), Vinay Jha, Yew Suhng-Gyou (South Korea), Youe Hansa (South Korea)

Short Stories:
Ajeet Caur (India), Bal Bahadur Thapa, Deepak SJB Rana, Khem K. Aryal, Marie Ange (Haiti/France), Mimi Rana, Prabhassorn Sevikul (Thailand), Prawash Gautam, Rabi Thapa, Sushma Joshi

Essays:
Ananda P. Srestha, Greta Rana, Govinda Raj Bhattarai


Interview:

Samrat Upadhyay


Critical Essays:
Anita Dhungel, Atindra Dahal, Bal Krishna Sharma, Chandra Mani Chapagai, Komal Prasad Phuyal, Krishna Sapkota, Mahesh Paudyal, Mohan Lohani, Nitya Pandey, Padma Devkota, Phatik Prasad Poudyal, Richa Bhattarai, Saguna Shah, Sanjeev Uprety, Sarita Bhattarai


Further information about the Society can be found in http://nwen.org.np/ and http://on.fb.me/194sjzo. 

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