Monday, December 10, 2012

Prajwal arrives home to share ‘simply written stories’


GANGTOK, 07 Dec: The curtain raiser of the book launch [Sikkim chapter] of “The Gurkha’s Daughter” by Sikkimese author Prajwal Parajuly was held at Rachna Books here at Development Area today. The book will be launched for Sikkim at Rachna Books tomorrow.
A compilation of eight short stories, “The Gurkha’s Daughter” has UK’s Quercus is the principal publisher while the Indian edition is being distributed by Penguin Books India.
Mr. Parajuly introduce his debut book as “simply written stories”.
“I have two stories based in Gangtok, one in Kalimpong, one in Darjeeling, one based on the Bhutanese-refugee situation, one in Kathmandu and one that happens on a road journey between Kathmandu and Birtamod. Some stories entailed weeks of research and field visits. Others were all in my head, so it was simply a matter of getting them down,” Mr. Parajuly shared today.
He informed that his next book, a novel, “Land Where I Flee” will be released sometime in December next year.
“This book is about the 84th birthday celebrations of an old lady by four of her nephews and nieces at her house in Gangtok. In fact, there is a whole chapter on Gangtok in the book”, he added.
Speaking on writing and Nepali literature, he said that translation of Nepali literature into other languages was very important and there is a need to commercialize writing as even writer’s need to make a living.
He also spoke about some of his favourite writers, such as Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Indra Bahadur Rai, Bir Bikram, Sanu Lama etc.
As an advice to budding writers, he stated that they should continue reading and writing, be comfortable with the language, know the basics, focus and strike a balance between their writing style and use of words.

4 comments:

  1. well...looks like the writer is not a prolific reader...a true Tenecian i guess....
    Arundhati????....with just one book to her name and numerous vitriolic pieces in Outlook ....not a great role model to have !!! Anyways, congrats to the only Sikkimese with an international publishers to name!!!

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  2. i have been reading about the book for sometime now. gangtok chatteratti seem to derive some kind of surrogate pride in the literary exploits of their town boy.
    however nowhere have i read any local discussion about the literary merit of the book in question.or perhaps a book review.
    hopefully there will be some more meaningful and objective assessment of the book in the days to come.

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  3. well i guess, its the same as having aku danny in bollywood, Deepraj in IGT and now this book....and this being a more intellectual pursuit, i guess we expect some semblance of levelheadedness and some critique on the book. I did read a brief review of it in Outlook, which was good , tho the fellow forgot to mention about the stories set in Sikkim....the minute u read Gorkha ...one associates it with Darj/Kpg and that's what he had high lighted!! and yea its great to see sikkim geting intellectually vibrant!!

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  4. read a very nice review in outlook and indian express.. is the book avlbl in good books?

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