''Tilled Earth: Stories'' is an anthology of short stories by

Manjushree Thapa Manjushree Thapa (born 1968 in Kathmandu) is a Nepalese–born Canadian essayist, fiction writer, translator and editor. She is one of the first English writers of Nepali descent to be published internationally. '' Forget Kathmandu'' and '' The T ...

. It was published on 2007 by

Penguin India Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a smal ...

. It is her first short story collection and fourth book. The book was launched by poet Wayne Amtizis and filmmaker Kesang Tseten in the British Council Nepal. The book consists of twenty-one short stories.

Synopsis

The stories in the book depicts the daily life of Nepalese people in the early 2000s. The main characters of the stories are Nepalese people who are either living in Nepal or abroad or expatriates travelling in Nepal. Some of the stories are a page long while some are novella-length. The major themes that the stories explore are traditional Nepalese society, the caste system, the Nepalese politics and experiences of Nepalese women and Nepalese living in abroad.

Reception

The book received mostly positive responses from the critics. Geeta Doctor of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

'' called the stories in the book "brilliantly balanced" with "sense of despair and celebration". Chandrahas Choudhury of ''Mint'' named "The Buddha in the Earth— Touching Posture" as his the best story in the collection. Navtej Sarna from ''

DNA India The ''Daily News and Analysis'', abbreviated as ''DNA'', is a Hindi-language news program on Zee news that was earlier an English-language newspaper with multiple local city editions across India. ''DNA'' was first launched as a broadsheet newspa ...

'' however was unimpressed with the stories in the collection. Khademul Islam of ''

The Daily Star (Bangladesh) ''The Daily Star'' is a Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper. It is by far the largest circulating English-language newspaper in the country. Founded by Syed Mohammed Ali on 14 January 1991, as Bangladesh transitioned and restored parl ...

'' praised the anthology as "a delightful and thoughtful read". The book was reprinted by

Aleph Book Company Aleph Book Company is an Indian publishing company. It was founded in May 2011 by David Davidar, a novelist, publisher and former president of Penguin Books Canada, in association with R. K. Mehra and Kapish Mehra of Rupa Publications. The hea ...

who acquired the rights to Thapa's works.

References

{{Manjushree Thapa, state=collapsed 21st-century Nepalese books 2007 short story collections Nepalese short story collections English books by Nepalese writer Nepalese literature in English

Synopsis

Reception

See also

References