Winners of the Sahityapost Uttam Puraskar across different genres were declared and awarded during a grand ceremony held on Sunday (Ashar 15) at the Apex Business Hotel, Airport.
The ‘Sahityapost Uttam Kavya Puraskar’ for this year has been awarded to Aaryash for his poetry collection Ma Timi Awnu Aghi Nai Gaisakeko Theye. Along with the winning book, Sahityapost also declared Madhusudhan Ghimire’s Mayako Ayatan and Hemanta Shishir’s Banda Kothako Jhyal as ‘Sahityapost Nawaratna’ (Nine Gems) from the poetry genre which were also among the final shortlists.
Similarly, Balika Bantawa’s novel Pyauli has been declared the winner of the ‘Sahityapost Uttam Akhyan Puraskar-2081’ in the fiction category. Jayaram Timilsina’s Dhimahi and Raman’s Katha Hun Katha Hainan were among the final shortlist for the award and were also included in the ‘Sahityapost Nawaratna’ from fiction.
From the non-fiction genre, Ramesh Bhusal’s Chal Bato has been declared the winner of the ‘Sahityapost Uttam Gair-Akhyan Puraskar-2081’. Tara Bhattrai’s Market of Sweetheart and Sanjeev Paudel’s Chotu were also among the final shortlist from the non-fiction genre and included in the ‘Sahityapost Nawaratna’ (Nine Gems) list.
Each award-winning author and poet received a cash prize of NPR 50,000 along with a certificate. Those declared as ‘Sahityapost Nawaratna’ were honored with citations and gift hampers.
During the award ceremony, Sahityapost also launched its digital library in the form of a mobile application named Sahityapost. Speaking about the digital library, Sahityapost editor Achyut Koirala said that the Sahityapost Digital Library was introduced to make Nepali literature accessible to readers across the world at an affordable price. Readers can now access around 1,000 digital books (both text and audio) through the application for just NPR 1,000 per year.
The non-fiction award was announced by poet and critic Mahesh Paudyal, while the fiction award was announced by writer Gopi Mainali. Likewise, the poetry award was announced by writer and poet Sanat Kumar Wasti.
The sponsors for all three ‘Sahityapost Uttam Puraskar-2081’ awards were poets Chaitanya Adhikari, Binaya Kumar Bhandari, and lyricist Uttam Baukai.
Starting next year, Sahityapost has also announced the establishment of an award for English-language books. Sahityapost English editor Mahesh Paudyal shared that the award, unlike the Nepali categories, will be presented to the best work in English by a Nepali author—whether an original work or a translation—across any genre. The award in the English section was announced by advocate Peshal Kumar Leutal who is also the co-editor of Sahityapost English section.
Additionally, a book titled Utkrista Bachhita, a collection of bachhita (a form of poetry), was launched during the event.
Sahityapost annually honors the best debut works by new writers in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction published in Nepali in a given year, and has now extended this recognition to include the best work in English.
The program was chaired by Chief Editor Aswini Koirala, emceed by Sahityapost’s fiction editor Theint Theint Dhital, and the welcome speech was delivered by Executive Editor Krishna Dhungel.
