Subedi to be presented SAARC Lifetime Achievement Award

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Nov. 5: Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) has announced that Prof. Abhi Subedi from Nepal along with Madhav Kaushik and Ashis Nandi (both from India) will receive SAARC Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2025.

Similarly, poet Laxmi Mali from Nepal along with Faridur Rahman and Kamrul Hassan (both from Bangladesh), Ramakrishna Perugu (India), Ibrahim Waheed (Maldives), Anurasiri Hettige (Sri Lanka) will be hounoured with SAARC Literature Award this year.

The award will be presented amid the inaugural function of the SAARC Literature Festival-2025 sheduled to be held from November 9 to 12 at Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, Siri Fort, in New Delhi, India.

A press release issued by the Festival chairperson Ajeet Cour read that the inaugural function will feature Madhav Kaushik, president of Sahitya Academy, India, as chief guest and Shanker Sharma, Nepali Ambassador to India, as guest of honour along with others. Prof. Ashish Nandy of India is sheduled to deliver keynote speech.

It is informed that a delegation of Nepali authors, including Abhi Subedi, Laxmi Mali, Sneh Sayami, Bhisma Upreti, Dhir Kumar Shrestha, Bidhan Acharya, Rituraj Subedi, Avaya Shrestha, Anita Lama, Janu Dhital, Din Bandhu Sharma, Bishwa Sigdel, Naaz Singh and Bhawana Pokhrel will participate in the festival.

Besides inaugural functions, the festival will feature documentary screening on famous Indian author Ajeet Cour, conversation and discourse, poetry reading and fiction and paper presentation.

Nepai authors Abhi Subedi, Bhisma Upreti and Bidhan Acharya will chair a session each, while journalist Rituraj Subedi will present a paper on 'Cultural Connectivity in South Asia.' Likewise, Bhisma Upreti, Bidhan Acharya and Avaya Shrestha will join both poetry reading and fiction presentation sessions, while other Nepali writers will join poetry sessions.

"It's a golden chance for writers from SAARC countries to showcase their literary achievement," coordinator of the Nepali delegation, Bhisma Upreti, said, "We will try to make Nepali delegation more representative as well as inclusive in the future."

The festival will also feature veteran Indian writers, including Mridula Garg, Anamika, and many others. 

Similarly, renowned Bangladeshi writers such as Faridur Rahman, Kamrul Hassan, Nurul Haq, and Nur Quamrun Naher; Maldivian writers including Aiysha Hussain Manik and Ibrahim Waheed; Sri Lankan writers Thameera Manju and Malik Thusita; and Bhutanese writers Rinzin Rinzin and Chador Wangmo will also participate.

FOSWAL is organising the festival in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature. The theme of this year’s festival is “Cultural Connectivity in South Asia.”