Tribhuvan Chandra Wagle

Whenever one looks at senior literary journalist Nagendra Raj Sharma, she/he is filled with positive vibes. Even at his ripe age, Sharma is active, positive and full of fun.
Although this scribe has been watching him for a long time, he has had the opportunity to get close to him only in the last couple of years.
His sage-like grey hairs and openhearted laughter are the hallmarks of this 84-year-old litterateur. He laughs as if he is a young person in his twenties. He even mingles with the youths of his grandchildren's age, giving us a feeling that he is not an octogenarian but an enthusiastic youth.

Platform For Writers
Sharma, a seasoned litterateur, is the founder of Abhibyakti Masik Bhetghat, a monthly meeting platform of the Nepalese poets, litterateurs and creative writers. He founded the platform about twenty years ago in 2001 (Asoj 4, 2058BS).
The platform provides poets, litterateurs and creative writers with an opportunity to meet informally. Sharma said that the platform encourages Nepali writers to remain in close contacts with fellow writers. Recently, this scribe came across humour and fun of Sharma at the 'Abhibyakti Masik Bhetghat' meeting at Green Park Restaurant.
The meeting of writers kicked off from Karki Kitchen, Gaushala. Now the meeting is held at Green Park. Litterateurs Ra Pra U Pokharel (Ram Prasad Upaddhya Pokharel) reminded us that Madan Karki, the owner of Karki Kitchen, used to offer food to Nepali poets and writers once a month on discount.
This meeting of poets and writers is an amazing experience. The participants attend the meeting on the first Thursday of every Nepali month without any formal invitation. All the attendees pay for their food and drink while staying together as a group. The restaurant provides them with special places to meet and interact.
Pioneer Nepali creative writers Pawan Alok, Biyogi Budhathoki, Bidhan Acharya, Kishor Pahadi, Bishnu Bahadur Singh, Shankar Bharati and Devika Timilsina have asked all attendees to give continuity to 'such a wonderful meeting' to maintain good rapport and bonhomie among the noted Nepalese writers and poets.
For many writers, attending the platform offers them insights to create plots for their future creations. The meeting of writers is an occasion to get eyes to see and hearts to understand one another.
The members of this literary group had decided to organise a special programme to felicitate senior writer Nagendra Raj Sharma on April 7 last year on his auspicious birthday. That did not happen because of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
As a member of the 'Narendra Raj Sharma Citizen Congratulatory Committee,' this scribe is pleased to have the felicitation programme on Chaitra 22 this year ( April 4, 2021).
Sharma, the founder, publisher and editor of the Abhibyakti, a bi-monthly literary magazine, was born in Manthali, Ramechhap, in 1994 BS Chaitra (April 1937). The Abhibyakti magazine has been published continuously for the last 51 years.
Publisher Sharma has confronted various problems while publishing such a literary magazine. Readers do not buy magazines these days, the publisher cannot pay the authors, and publishers cannot receive advertisements, without which there is no source of income.
The government has provided only nominal assistance. In such a situation, publishing literary magazines for half a century is no less challenging but senior literary journalists Rochak Ghimire and Nagendra Raj Sharma have contributed to fostering the Nepali literature for more than half a century through Rachana and Abhibyakt (bi-monthly) magazines respectively.
Litterateur Sharma is not merely a publisher of a magazine; he is a renowned writer too, with some popular novellas, an anthology of stories and poetry under his belt. The Mahapurush (2028) and Diwa Swapna(2029) are his best novels. Similarly, Pipal Ko Botmuni (2039), Ekanta Ka Afantaharu (2055) are popular collections of stories.
Sharma served in the field of Nepali literature as a founder member, vice president and president of Sahityik Patrakar Sangh from 2029 to 2038 BS. Similarly, he was engaged in various posts, i.e. founder member, vice president and president of Srijanshil Sahityik Samaj from 2039 to 2047 BS.

Honours, Awards
He was actively engaged in various institutions under various capacities. From 2045 to date, he has been an active founder member and vice president of PEN Nepal's chapter. He was vice president in Yug Kavi Siddhicharan Shrestha and Gandaki Basundhara Puraskar Pratisthan from 2050 to 2058 BS and was an executive member in Dr Ishwor Baral Pragya Niketan.
From 2051 to 2055 BS, he was a member of the then Royal Nepal Academy. He has been working now as the General Secretary of the Aswikrit Bichar Sahitya Puraskar Guthi.
Pioneer writer Sharma has received dozens of prizes and public felicitation. He has visited several countries including the USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and so on.

(Wagle is a journalist and poet)