Kolkata, 21 December
Nepali literary scholars and academics Prof. Dr. Jib Lal Sapkota and Mahesh Paudyal addressed literary gatherings during the 5th International Literary Meet in Kolkata. The meet organized by Banani, a literary periodical, took place at Sivananda Hall in Ramakrishna Mission, Golpark, Kolkata on 20th and 21st December 2025. Inaugurated by veteran Indian multilingual poet Prabha Burma, the two-day literary meet, chaired by the meet’s president Nilanjan Sandilya, featured several sessions on diverse aspects of literature. The event was attended by delegates from India, Nepal, France, Bangladesh, and other countries.
The sessions included paper presentations, panel discussions, poetry readings, and musical performances, making the meet a vibrant celebration of literary exchange.
Addressing the gathering, Nepali literary scholar and professor of English at Tribhuvan University, Professor Dr. Jib Lal Sapkota presented a comprehensive overview of poetic drama starting from the West, and traversing through Hindi and Nepali literatures. He highlighted the componential aspects, the thematic dimension, and performative part of poetic drama. During his delivery, he outlined the history of the development of Poetic Drama right from the days of Sophocles through our own days and observed that this art of Poetic Drama has been backgrounded lately as there are very few performing writers professing the genre in the present day scenario. Prof. Sapkota spoke alongside Bangla scholar and writer Prabal Kumar Basu who presented a survey of poetic drama in Bangla literature.
Putting forward his views on postcolonial literature from the subjective position of a Nepali, Mahesh Paudyal, a poet and critic, said, the positionality of Nepal as a never-colonized nation in the South Asian canvas destabilizes some of the hegemonizing claims of the postcolonial discourse. Mr. Paudyal spoke alongside French scholar and poet Jean-Frédéric Chevallier who presented his position from post-colonial perspective in regards with his research on the Santhal community living in Bengal.
Alongside these discussions, there was a comprehensive panel discussion between the Chief Guest Prabha Verma and Bangla Poet and Litterateur Subodh Sarkar on the positionality of a poet in the midst of multiple political, economic, and social pressures. The discussion centered on the role of writers and poets while streamlining the changing social-political order. Critics and academics Dr. Himavanta Bandhopadhyaya and Dr. Barendu Mandol engaged in a discussion on protest poetry and its signifance in global and Bangla literarary scenario.
The literary meet was addressed by Nilanjan Sandilya, the chairperson of the International Literary Meet, Swami Suparnananda of the Ramakrishna Mission, Tapan Bandopadhyaya, a novelist, and Subodh Sarkar, a noted Bengali poet and writer. During the occasion, the latest issue of the magazine BANANI edited by Adhir Krishna Mondal, and the festival website www.internationalliterarymeetkolkata.com were also launched.
One of the major performances in the literary meet was comprehensive poetry reading by poets gathered from different parts of the world. The presenters included famed poets Amritendu Mandol, Dhiman Chakravorty, Shankar Ghosh, Saumyajit Acharya, Santosh Alex, Dr. Ahmed Meraj, and Alison Chakma besides others. Nepali poets Jib Lal Sapkota and Mahesh Paudyal also read their poems both in English and Nepali and presented a different taste to the literary audience in Kolkata.
The two-day event concluded on 21st December 2025.
