Suman Pokhrel

Suman Pokhrel
Pokhrel reading at the SAARC Festival of Literature 2010 in New Delhi
Born September 21, 1967
Mills Area, Biratnagar, Nepal
Occupation poet, lyricist, translator, artist
Nationality Nepal Nepali
Notable works

Jeevanko Chheubaata

Hazaar Aankhaa Yee Aankhaamaa
Notable awards SAARC Literary Award
2015
SAARC Literary Award
2013
Parikalpna Award,
2013
Jayandra Best Book of the Year
2009
Spouse Goma Dhungel
Children Ojaswee Pokhrel and Mansun Pokhrel

Suman Pokhrel (Nepali: सुमन पोखरेल; born on September 21, 1967) is a multilingual Nepali poet, lyricist. translator, and an artist.[1][2][3] His works have been widely acclaimed and are published internationally.[4][5][6]

Suman Pokhrel is one of the most important creative voices of South Asia, whose work leaves a major impact on the reader of contemporary literature.[7][8] He is a poet with a strong tender voice.[6] He partakes in the mundane aspect of life with a passion that makes his reader to elevate to a higher self. The impressionable images created by him allow his readers to introspect.[9] His poems revolve around the nuances of life. The play around his choice of words creates magic in the minds of his readers.[10] Pokhrel's lyrics are marked for their musical qualities and literary verve.[9]

Suman Pokhrel is only writer to receive SAARC Literary Award twice.[11] He received this award in 2013 and 2015 for his own poetry and his contributions to poetry and art in general in the South Asian region.[12]

Early life

Suman Pokhrel was born on 21 September 1967, in Mills Area, Biratnagar, to Mukunda Prasad Pokhrel and Bhakta Devi Pokhrel.[13]

A view of Pokhrel's ancestral village Kachide
Pokhrel as a child

Suman Pokhrel attended Bal Mandir, a government owned Kindergarten in Biratnagar, until he was five. Pokhrel got moved to his ancestral village of Kachide in Dhankuta at the age of seven and raised there by his paternal grandmother. His grandfather Bidhyanath Pokhrel was a poet and a politician. He was introduced to literature early through the influence of his grandfather's library, filled with Nepali, Hindi and classic Sanskrit literature. At the age of twelve, he moved back to Biratnagar to live with his parents. Pokhrel was mentored by his father, who was an engineer by profession and a bibliophile with a keen interest in art and literature.[14][15]

Suman Pokhrel being honored with the SAARC Literary Award 2013
Suman Pokhrel receiving SAARC Literary Award 2015

Education

Pokhrel earned his B.Sc., M.B.A. and B.L. from the Tribhuvan University, Nepal.[16]

Career

Suman Pokhrel joined the Nepali civil service in Nepal Government as a Section Officer in February 1995. He left the job and joined Plan International in December 1998 as a development activist and went to the remote hilly region of the country. The job demanded visits to the more remote areas of the region.[16]

During his visits to the deprived villages he internalized the hardship of life the men, women and children were experiencing over there. The sceneries of lives he observed groomed his inner poet. During his visits to one of those places he wrote the poem Khorampa,[17] named after a poverty smitten village in Bhojpur district of his country. In this poem, he has beautifully painted the hardship of life with the fringes of words.[16][18]

I would regard meanings
given by others so far
as refreshing boon,
I would still be enamored of rose
or any heartless flower's smell
if tender tides of your affection
had not suffused
the pollen of my heart
with loving aroma.
modulations of my song,
images of my poetry,
my life story,
all would be making
a tedious dumb run
with no destination
sans beauty like
sultry gusts of drought
that flow over leafless treetops

“
”
"You are as You are", trans. Abhi Subedi [19]

Suman Pokhrel's poems in English are appeared in different international poetry journals and anthologies including Snow Jewel, USA;[20] Life and Legends, USA;[6] Song We Share, South Asia;[9] Sweet and Sour Dreams, South Asia;[21] Global Poetry [22] and in different volumes of Beyond Borders, South Asia;[23] and Art of Being Human,Canada.[10][24]

Pokhrel has read his poems for various international audiences. He has read his poems in SAARC Festivals of Literature in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. He read his poem in SAARC Charter Day Celebrations on December 8, 2013 in New Delhi, India as an especial invitee.[7][8] He recited his poems in Nepali during a monthly two-poet poetry recital program in Kathmandu in March 2015, which was the first-ever opportunity for audience of Kathmandu to listen to his poetry in his own voice.[25][26][27]

His landmark poem, The Taj Mahal and My Love, is an innovative poem. The epitome of love creates awe in the mind of one and all, falls short to a lover who wants to give it all in this lifetime and not be delusional like Shah Jahan. The poet has penned down the poem with reverence to the greatness of the Taj Mahal.[28]

Works

Publications

Poetry Collections

Collection of Lyrical Poems

Translations

Poetry

Play

Memoir

Awards

Sample Art Works and Paintings

References

  1. ↑ "Suman Pokhrel". Foundationsaarcwriters.com. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  2. ↑ Ed. K. Satchidanandna and Ajeet Cour: SONGS WE SHARE, Poetry Across Borders". New Delhi: ERA, 2011. p. 88, 179, 255. ISBN 8188703214
  3. ↑ The Songs We Share
  4. ↑ name="satchidanandna88"> Ed. K. Satchidanandna and Ajeet Cour: SONGS WE SHARE, Poetry Across Borders". New Delhi: ERA, 2011. p. 88, 179, 255. ISBN 8188703214</
  5. ↑ Art of Being Human, An Anthology of International Poetry - Volume 9 p.144, 145, Canada Editors- Daniela Voicu & Brian Wrixon, ISBN 9781927682777
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 http://lifeandlegends.com/suman-pokhrel-translated-dr-abhi-subedi/
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://foundationsaarcwriters.in/
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://academyoffineartsandliterature.com/Foundation/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Report_SAARC_Charter_Day-2013.pdf
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 http://www.foundationsaarcwriters.com/images/News_Section_New/The_Songs_We_Share.pdf
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 http://www.blurb.com/books/6060206-the-art-of-being-human-volume-13
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Hindustan Times, New Delhi, Saturday, February 14, 2015
  12. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAARC_Literary_Award
  13. ↑ Introduction to poet in 'Jeevanko Chheubaata'
  14. ↑ Introduction to poet in 'Hazaar Aankha Yee Aankhama'
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Prof. Abhi Subedi : Sahitya ra Aam Britta p 189, 2014, ISBN 978 9937 852531
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Article "Suman Ek Suwas Aanek" by Gandakiputra, Nagarik National Daily, Friday 26 April 2013
  17. ↑ Rup Pokharel (2009-08-29). "Khorampa* by Suman Pokhrel". Poemhunter.com. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
  18. ↑ Dadhiraj Subedi, "नेपाली साहित्यका मुस्कानहरू (The Smiles of Nepali Literature)"- 2013, Purwanchal Sahitya Academy, Biratnagar - ISBN 978 9937248266
  19. ↑ The Art of Being Human Volume 4, An Anthology of International Poetry, p. 54 Blurb, Canada, ISBN 9781927682432
  20. ↑ p. 13, Issue 6, Snow Jewel [March 1, 2015], Published in the U.S., ISSN 2157-3646, Grey Sparrow Press
  21. ↑ p. 127, Every Morning, Sweet and Sour Dream, FOSWAL, ISBN 8188703206
  22. ↑ http://www.globalpoetry.net/blog/2015/04/01/fever/
  23. ↑ http://foundationsaarcwriters.com/?page_id=1722
  24. ↑ http://www.blurb.com/b/4372832-the-art-of-being-human-volume-4-an-anthology-of-in
  25. ↑ http://uskhabar.com/?p=2295
  26. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sbVJrELeEA
  27. ↑ http://www.ekantipur.com/kantipur/2071/12/14/full-story/343325.html
  28. ↑ The Art of Being Human Volume 6, An Anthology of International Poetry, p. 83 Blurb, Canada, ISBN 9781927682630
  29. ↑ "Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya". Madanpuraskar.org. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  30. ↑ "Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya". Madanpuraskar.org. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  31. ↑ "Publication2" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  32. ↑ "Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya". Madanpuraskar.org. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  33. ↑ "Hazaar Aankhaa Yee Aankhaamaa-Internal Pages_Final.pub" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  34. ↑ http://kavitakosh.org/kk/सुमन_पोखरेल
  35. ↑ विराटआवाज, भदौ २०६९ सं. खेम नेपाली
  36. ↑ http://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/books/five-writers-honoured-at-saarc-literature-festival/article1-1024426.aspx
  37. ↑ http://www.pustaksansar.com/articledetail.php?artid=1154
  38. ↑ "जयेन्द्र प्रसाई साहित्य पुरस्कार कवि पोखरेललाई". Pratinidhibelgium.com. 2010-09-06. Retrieved 2014-05-25.

External links