Samrat Upadhyay

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Samrat Upadhyay has been called the "first Nepali writer to be published in the West"^{[citation needed]}. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at the Indiana University at Bloomington. Arresting God in Kathmandu, The Guru of Love and The Royal Ghosts. He lives in the United States. His books have been appreciated by the New York Times and many notable people.^{[citation needed]} His books specially potray the current situation in Nepal.

Mr. Upadhyay notably features all about Nepal's crisis. He certainly gives a realistic look regarding the current situation in Nepal though his works are entirely fictional. But he is known to add unreal and unacceptable approximation for he wrote the books while in the US. He presents the Maoist Insurgency in a completely different way. He is known to have become famous by his books and stories due to the beginning of a new wave in writing about Nepal.

Contents 1 About the author 2 The Royal Ghosts 3 The Guru of Love 4 ARRESTING god IN KATHMANDU

[edit] About the author

Born and raised in Kathmandu, Samrat Upadhyay lives in Bloomington, Indiana, and teaches creative writing and literature at Indiana University. He went to United States at age of twenty-one. He is a Winner of the 2001 Whiting Award. He is a first Nepali writer writing in English who publishes in the West. This has brought about specks of controversy as well. His The Guru of love was a New York Times Notable Book, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, a finalist for the Kiriyama Prize, and a Book Sense 76 pick. His collection of short stories, Arresting God in Kathmandu, explores love and family in modern day Nepal where tradition and modernization battle for a common ground.

“In an assured and subtle manner, Upadhyay anchors small yet potent epiphanies in a place called Kathmandu, and quietly calls it home” (Publishers Weekly)

[edit] The Royal Ghosts

This is one of his best books. It entirely portrays the Nepalese social problems and events. It is a collection of 12 short stories. The first story, for example, "a Refugee" tells the story of Pitamber and his family. They try to help a young woman who has become forcefully displaced to Kathmandu with her five year old daughter, after her husband is killed by Maoist rebels. Critics claim that this sort of story can be found in each and every Nepali TV shows or any daily Nepali newspaper. He (the writer) displays Pitamber and his family of being the moral typical Nepali family who have become shocked of the situation though he doesn't explain the political cause. He explains how the Maoist problem caused disruption in the Nepali families. So, his fictional works are actually based on real-life events that clearly depicits a realistic look to his works. Later, in the story he describes only of the 'traumatized' situation of the prime character - Pitamber as well as his family.

His books have earned him wide popularity- the first Nepali writer for that actually. But, his characters are phrased "immemorable and too common" by critics. Of course, his way of writing and expression skills have overshadowed the voice of the critics.

[edit] The Guru of Love

Upadhyay's second book, the novel The Guru of Love, was published in January 2003 by Houghton Mifflin and given starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and The Library Journal and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2003 and a finalist for the 2004 Kiriyama Prize, which is awarded in "recognition of outstanding books that promote greater understanding of and cooperation among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia." The Guru of Love was released in paperback by Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin in 2004. Upadhyay has also co-edited the anthology Secret Places: New Writing from Nepal (University of Hawai'i Press), published in Winter 2001 as a special issue of Manoa magazine.

[edit] ARRESTING god IN KATHMANDU

ARRESTING god IN KATHMANDU is his first book.It is a collection of nine short stories. His stories are usually based on the Nepalese lifestyles and relate basically to fictional sexuality.