Suman Pokhrel ( ne, सुमन पोखरेल; born on September 21,

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

) is a

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist. Universities in Nepal and India have included his poetry in their syllabus. Suman Pokhrel is the sole writer to receive the SAARC Literary Award twice.Hindustan Times, New Delhi, Saturday, February 14, 2015 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 South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...

region.

Early life

Suman Pokhrel was born on September 21, 1967 in Mills Area,

Biratnagar Biratnagar () is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Province No. 1. With a population of 242,548 as per the 2011 census, it is the largest city in the province and also the headquarters of Morang district. As per the ...

, to Mukunda Prasad Pokhrel and Bhakta Devi Pokhrel. Kachide

Suman Pokhrel attended Bal Mandir, a government owned

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

, 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 paternal 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

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

and classic

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

literature. At the age of twelve, he moved back to

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.

Education

Pokhrel earned his BSc, MBA and BL from the Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

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. A Multilingual poet, Suman Pokhrel has written in

, English,

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

languages. Whereas, his works have been translated into several other languages, and are published in magazines and journals from across the countries. Many of his works have been translated into other languages by various translators including himself. Pokhrel has read his poems for both national and 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 India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

as an especial invitee. He recited his poems in

during a monthly two-poet poetry recital program in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Nepal, Province , subdivision_name1 ...

in March 2015. He read his poems at All India Poets' Meet in

Orissa, India Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sc ...

in February 2016 as an especial invitee poet from foreign country.

Works

As a translator, Pokhrel has translated works of several poets and writers from around the world into

. He has translated

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play '' The Tempest'' into Nepali as Aandhibehari which was published by Nepal Academy in 2018. His translations of poetry of Anna Akhmatova, Anna Swir,

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Genera ...

, Delmira Agustini, Forough Farrokhzad, Gabriela Mistral, Jacques Prévert, Mahmoud Darwish,

Nazik Al Malaika Nazik al-Malaika ( ar, نازك الملائكة; 23 August 1923 – 20 June 2007) was an Iraqi poet. Al-Malaika is noted for being among the first Arabic poets to use free verse. Early life and career Al-Malaika was born in Baghdad to a cult ...

, Nazim Hikmet, Nizar Qabbani, Octavio Paz,

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, Yehuda Amichai. and

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, '' Th ...

, are collected in Manpareka Kehi Kavita, an anthology of poetry in Nepali translation. His translations of fifty one of Kannada Language poets including

Kuvempu Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa (29 December 1904 – 11 November 1994), popularly known by his pen name Kuvempu, was an Indian poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He is widely regarded as the greatest Kannada poet of the 20th century. He was ...

G. S. Shivarudrappa Guggari Shanthaveerappa Shivarudrappa (7 February 1926 – 23 December 2013), or colloquially GSS, was an Indian Kannada poet, writer, and researcher who was awarded the title of ''Rashtrakavi'' (national poet) by the Government of Karnataka in ...

D. R. Bendre Dattātreya Rāmachandra Bēndre (31 January 1896 – 26 October 1981), popularly known as Da Rā Bēndre, is generally considered the greatest Kannada lyric poet of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the history of Kannada ...

, V. K. Gokak, U. R. Ananthamurthy, Siddalingaiah,

P. Lankesh Palya Lankesh (8 March 1935 – 25 January 2000) was an Indian poet, fiction writer, playwright, translator, screenplay writer and journalist who wrote in the Kannada language. He was also an award-winning film director. Early life and career ...

, K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Chandrashekhar Patil, Baraguru Ramachandrappa, Doddarange Gowda,

Chennaveera Kanavi Chennaveera Kanavi (28 June 1928 – 16 February 2022) was an Indian Kannada language poet and author. In a career spanning over seven decades he wrote over 25 anthologies and over 28 books across genres. He was considered one of the major poet ...

Sumatheendra R Nadig Sumathendra Raghavendra Nadig (4 May 1935 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian professor and writer in Kannada. Nadig came upon the literary scene as a prominent modern poet in the 1960s. He was a close associate of Gopalakrishna Adiga, the leade ...

, H. S. Venkateshamurthy, Gopalakrishna Adiga, Allama Prabhu, Manu Baligar, S. R. Ekkundi and Jayant Kaikini are collected in anthology titled Shashwat Awaj. Other prominent poets that he has translated into Nepali include Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sahir Ludhiyanvi,

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, H ...

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...

and

Uday Prakash Uday Prakash (born 1 January 1952) is a Hindi poet, scholar, journalist, translator and short story writer from India. He has worked as administrator, editor, researcher, and TV director. He writes for major dailies and periodicals as a freelancer ...

among others. Ajit Cour, Indira Dangi, Sheema Kalbasi, Anamika, Kalpna Singh-Chitnis Azita Ghahreman and Hélène Cardona are other contemporary writers and poets whom he has translated into Nepali. Pokhrel's Nepali translations have been considered as among a few best literary translations brought into Nepali. Suman Pokhrel has translated works of many of Nepali-language poets and writers including

Laxmi Prasad Devkota Laxmi Prasad Devkota ( ne, लक्ष्मीप्रसाद देवकोटा) (1909-1959) was a Nepali poet, playwright, and novelist. Honored with the title of Mahakabi ( ne, माहाकवि) in Nepali literature, he was know ...

Gopal Prasad Rimal Gopal Prasad Rimal ( ne, गोपाल प्रसाद रिमाल; 1975–2030) was a Nepalese poet from Kathmandu, Nepal. According to scholar Michael J. Hutt, "he is remembered as the first "revolutionary" Nepali poet and the first to ...

Bhupi Sherchan Bhupendra Man Sherchan, popularly known as Bhupi Sherchan (1937-1989) was a Nepali poet and academician. He is one of the most beloved and widely read Nepali poets. He was awarded the Sajha Puraskar for his 1969 poetry collection ''Ghumne Mech ...

Ishwar Ballav Ishwar Ballav ( ne, ईश्वरबल्लभ, 11 July 1937 – 22 March 2008) was one of the most influential Nepali poets. He was also a poet of a new dimension–the third dimension–meaning ''Tesro Ayam'' in the history of Nepalese ...

Abhi Subedi Abhi Subedi ( ne, अभि सुवेदी) is a Nepali poet, playwright, linguist, columnist, translator and critic, who writes in Nepali and English. Biography Abhi Subedi was born in Sabla village of Tehrathum district in eastern Nepal ...

and Krishna Bhooshan Bal into English,

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Poetry

* Shoonya Mutuko Dhadkanbhitra * Hazaar Aankhaa Yee Aankhaamaa * Jeevanko Chheubaata * Malai Zindagi Nai Dukhdachha * Soundryako Sangeet

Play

* Yajnaseni

Translation

* ''Aandhibehari'' * ''Manpareka Kehi Kavita'' * ''One Zero One'' * ''Bharat Shashwat Aawaz''

Awards

International

* SAARC Literary Award 2015 – conferred by

Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature The Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) is the only SAARC apex body in the SAARC The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in S ...

* SAARC Literary Award 2013 – conferred by

National

* Aarohan Bishesh Samman 2013 - conferred by Aarohan Gurukul

References

External links

*
Official Website of Suman Pokhrel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pokhrel, Suman 1967 births Living people People from Biratnagar Nepalese male poets Nepalese artists Nepali-language poets English-language poets Hindi-language poets Urdu-language poets Sanskrit poets Lyric poets Nepalese dramatists and playwrights Nepali-language writers English-language writers Maithili writers Hindi-language writers Nepalese translators Nepalese songwriters Artist authors Translators to Nepali Translators to English Translators to Hindi Translators to Urdu Translators from English Translators from Nepali Translators from Hindi Translators from Urdu 20th-century Nepalese poets 21st-century Nepalese poets Tribhuvan University alumni 20th-century translators 20th-century Nepalese male writers 21st-century male writers People from Morang District People educated at Adarsha High School Nepali-language lyricists Literary translators English–Nepali translators Translators of Anna Akhmatova Translators of Delmira Agustini Translators of Forough Farrokhzad Translators of Gabriela Mistral Translators of Mahmoud Darwish Translators of Nâzım Hikmet Translators of Nizar Qabbani Translators of Octavio Paz Translators of Pablo Neruda Translators of William Shakespeare Multilingual poets English-language poets from Nepal English-language writers from Nepal