We acknowledge it or not, but the locus of ‘soft knowledge’ has moved out of the West, and is being searched for in underexplored regions in the non-West, including the Orient. Squeezed across generations, right from the days of Homer, the West has given its best to the literary and philosophical world. Squeezing it further is like squeezing the comb of wasps. The interests of the novelty-haunters have thus shifted, and the non-West is their new resort. This does not mean that the non-Western philosophical world is new; it is even older than its Western part if we consider the appearance of the Rigveda, but we lag much behind in foregrounding, explaining, interpreting, translating, adopting, remodeling and even re-writing our heritage.
We in Nepal, thankfully, are a part of that minimally explored philosophical treasure, and we are now a member of that new intelligentsia that will, early or late, become the source of novel literary and philosophical discourses all over the world.
When we had launched English.Sahityapost two years ago, we had this proposition in our minds. We also faithfully believed that our writers, through ancient to the modern times are also ‘world-class’ on their own merits, and we need a forum to exhibit their worth. We also knew that there was a necessity to directly or indirectly groom a generation of globally informed writers, who could inherit this luminous literary wand, explore their own originality and make them visible on the global stage. Third, we also intended to attract non-Nepali writers from all over the world to negotiate with our writers and readers.
Our experiences in the past two years confirm that our convictions are right. The classics we have published in English translation are received with incredible zeal and interest. The number of non-Nepali visitors we attract is on constant rise. Back at home, writers, especially from the young generation, are furnishing incredibly meritorious creations, and their keenness in getting published in English is quite passionate. On top of that, we also regularly have foreign contributions writing for the Post.
But this is just a beginning. We have a number of visions for the days to come. We wonder if we can make the Post a forum that regularly grooms writers through workshops, both physical and virtual. We are exploring if we can organize literary summits of global scales and allow serious face-to-face debates. We are working hard to institute an award for books written in English by Nepali writers. And more, and more, and more….indeed.
Even as we observe our second foundation day, we take this opportunity to thank our esteemed contributors, readers, writers, web staff, artists, reporters, translators and sponsors for their incredible contributions. We expect similar help in the days to come.
