Abhi Subedi


Abhi Subedi is a Nepali poet, playwright, columnist, translator and critic, who writes in Nepali and English.

Biography

Abhi Subedi was born in Sabla village of Tehrathum district in eastern Nepal. He was the 21st child of his father and the 7th child of his mother. He recognized Bengali letters before Devnagari scripts after seeing his mother read Bengali epic Kashiram Das's Mahabharata.

Education

Abhi Subedi was offered a British Council scholarship to the University of Edinburgh in 1978 and completed his post-graduate degree. He wrote about his struggle for education viz a viz the Thatcher government's cut on foreign scholarships and grants and the bureaucratic malice of his university back home.
He earned a Ph.D. on the pragmatics of poetry from Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur and did postgraduate work in stylistics and applied linguistics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
File:South Asian Writers.jpg|thumb|250px|Abhi Subedi with Suman Pokhrel, Sitakanta Mahapatra and Pratibha Ray during South Asian Literature Festival in New Delhi in February 2017

Career

Subedi started as a teacher of English at Tribhuvan University and after returning from Europe taught stylistics there. He taught for 40 years at the Central Department of English in Tribhuvan University, and headed the department for more than a decade. Subedi is vice-President of the Nepali Folklore Society of Nepal. He is the founding former president of the International Theatre Institute UNESCO from 2000 to 2008 and member of International Playwright's Forum from 2000 to 2011. Subedi became President and two times General Secretary of the Linguistic Society of Nepal. He was also President of the Literary Association of Nepal. He is a member of the International Association of Theatre Critics. He has been involved in a number of interdisciplinary study groups and is a prolific writer on issues of freedom, culture, literature, arts and social transformation. His essays and seminar papers have been published in Nepal and abroad.

Works

Subedi has published over two dozen books on different subjects. Several of his plays have been performed by well-known theatre groups in Nepal and abroad. Abhi Subedi's poem, "Soft Storm," is a part of the National Book of Nepal for Class 12 students.

Books in Nepali

  • Flaneurko Diary
  • Sahitya ra Aambritta
  • Chiriyeka Sanjhharu 2011
  • Nibandhama Uttarbarti Kaalkhanda 2009
  • Teen Natak 2008
  • Nibandha ra Tundikhel, 2008
  • Paanch Natak 2004
  • Carpettangieko Aakaas 1998
  • Shavda ra Chot, 1997
  • Madhyam ra Rachana, 1997
  • Paschatya Kavy Siddhanta, 1973
  • Sirjana ra Mulyankan'',1982

Books in English

  • Forever Arriving 2024
  • Bruised Evenings 2011
  • Nepali Theatre as I See It, 2007
  • Three Plays. Trans Sangita Rayamajhi, 2003
  • Dreams of Peach Blossoms, 2001, 2012
  • Ekai Kawaguchi: the Trespassing Insider, 1999
  • Chasing Dreams: Kathmandu Odyssey,
  • Nepali Literature: Background and History, 1978
  • Manas, joint collection with Peter J. Karthak, 1974

Translations, editing and joint collections

  • Aadhunik Japani Kavita, 1987
  • Poems of the Century, 2000
  • Voices from Nepal, 1999
  • Beyond Borders: an Anthology of SAARC Poetry, 2002
  • Japani Haiku: Hijor ra Aaja, 1987
  • Japani Noh Naatak, 1989
  • Samakalin Nepali Kavita, 1996
  • Biswosahityako Aithihashik Rooprekha, 1974
  • Pacchisbarshakaa Nepali Kavita, 1982

Ecology and Conservation

His keynote speech at the Nepal Year of Conservation 2009 UK Celebration hosted by the Zoological Society of London was published in
the Kathmandu Post on 25 November 2009. In his address he stated that the plentifulness of animals and the perennial existence of opulent nature was a myth and gave examples of visual dramatisation of animals in relation with hegemonic power structures.

Awards