Lines from Thapa’s earth

Kathmandu:

It was an interesting evening at the British Council on July 24 with writer Manjushree Thapa reading lines from her short story ‘Love Marriage’ one of the stories in her latest book Tilled Earth.

“This is an insecure time for me,” a smiling Thapa shared with the audience that comprised both locals and foreigners. “It’s a time for reviews for my latest book, and a time when you get to know whether your work has been received the way you want it to,” she added.

She also shared her views on her style of writing and answered queries from the audience. “I think I belong to the tradition of South Asian writers focussing on the social issues, and like experimenting, which also makes me insecure about the response by readers,” she informed.

Thapa prefers focussing more on her language and spontaneous progression of events, rather than yoking herself to the compulsion of a definite plot and a gratifying ending.

“I think there are two impulses in a human — one seeks a definite ending, while the other feels the need to accept the open-endedness in life as this is how life runs,” she said.

To an audience query on how she see the prospects of English writing in Nepal, Thapa sounded very optimistic.

“There is definitely going to be an explosion of English writing in the next 10 years. The insecurity of the Nepali writers in English lies in the publishing part, but there is definitely going to be a better scenario by then,” Thapa opined.