NEPAL’S NATIONAL TREASURE
“Laxmi Prasad Devkota (Nepali: लक्ष्मीप्रसाद देवकोटा) (November 12, 1909 – September 14, 1959) was a Nepali poet, playwright, novelist, and politician. Honored with the title of Mahakabi (Nepali: महाकवि) in Nepali literature, he was known as a poet with a golden heart. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most famous literary figures in Nepal. Some of his popular works include the best-selling Muna Madan, along with Sulochana, Kunjini, Bhikhari, and Shakuntala,” as referenced by Lamsal, Yuba Nath (6 December 2013). “Poet The Great: Laxmi Prasad Devkota,” Gorkhapatra and Hutt, Michael (7 March 2018).“A voice from the past speaking to the present.” Kathmandu: The Record Nepal. secondary references from original article, गिरी, अमर (30 October 2019). “देवकोटा र मानवता: कुन मन्दिरमा जान्छौ यात्री ?”. Gorkhapatra (in Nepali).
AMERICA’S NATIONAL TREASURE
“Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist, and leader of the mythopoetic men’s movement. His best-known prose book is Iron John: A Book About Men (1990), which spent 62 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List and is a key text of the mythopoetic men’s movement. He won the 1968 National Book Award for Poetry for his fierce antiwar collection The Light Around the Body. An influential translator, he introduced many American readers to the work of Pablo Neruda, Tomas Tranströmer, and other world poets. Internationally loved and respected, with his poetry, prose, and activism he helped boost Minnesota’s profile on the international literary map. His Collected Poems were published by W. W. Norton in 2018.” – Thomas R. Smith was Robert Bly’s personal assistant during much of Bly’s life.
CONTRIBUTORS
Christopher Barnes has been published in literary magazines in many countries. He is a gay British poet who also writes poetry criticism essays. He was involved in Newcastle University’s Stemistry course, which was about creative writing on the theme of Stem Cell research, check out the website: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/stemistry/writers/barnes.html
Byron Beynon coordinated Wales’s contribution to the anthology Fifty Strong (Heinemann). His work has featured in several publications including The Grey Sparrow Journal, Agenda, The French Literary Review, Wasafiri, Cyphers, The London Magazine, Poetry Wales, English: Journal of the English Association, and the human rights anthology In Protest (University of London and Keats House Poets). Several collections include The Echoing Coastline (Agenda) and Where Shadows Stir (The Seventh Quarry Press) which was launched at the birthplace of Dylan Thomas, Swansea in February 2023.”
Narayan Bhattarai is a poet, short story writer, and a lyricist. He has been involved in creative writing since his school days. His father inspired him to found a literary and charity organization Yasho Bhanu (YB) Foundation under his parent’s name and is constantly engaged in supporting creative writers in Nepal. He is co-editor of Kavya─representative Nepali Poetry in English. Bhattarai has also served as board member for the Parkland Poet’s Society for two terms. His literary writings have been published in literary magazines, journals, and newspapers including The Outlying Voices and Stroll of Poetry Anthology. He loves to write about the difference between appearance and reality.
Ben Chase is an actor living in New York City, probably best known for playing Detective Freddie Washburn on Law and Order: Organized Crime and one of the leads of The Thing About Pam also on NBC. He has an MFA from Brown in acting. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Milk Book Press (NY Poetry Society) and Gulf Coast Journal. He just had a second son and writes/thinks about his kids constantly.
LB Chhetri is the author of the poetry collection, Bheed Ma Harayeko Manchhe, and two short story collections, Trishanku Ko Deshma and Indramaya Ko Deshmaa. A retired professor of Tribhuvan University, Chhetri is the president of Kavidada Literary Society Chitwan, and Chief Editor of Charaiveti Literary Fortnightly.
Holly Day hails from Minneapolis. She has taught writing classes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since 2000. Her poetry has recently appeared in Tampa Review, SLAB, and Gargoyle, and her published books including Walking Twin Cities, Music Theory for Dummies, and Ugly Girl.
Maureen Eppstein’s most recent poetry collection is Horizon Line (Main Street Rag 2020). Finishing Line Press published her chapbook Earthward in 2014, and will publish a new chapbook, Daughter in 2024. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Grey Sparrow Journal and Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2018.) She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Crossing the boundary between the arts and the sciences, her poems have been included in a textbook on geometric modeling, a university geology course and a National Audubon Society report. A former executive director of the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, she has run a poetry reading series in the Bay Area and taught poetry at the college level. Originally from Aotearoa/New Zealand, she lives in Mendocino CA.
Richard Fulco’s second novel, We Are All Together (Wampus Multimedia), was published in November 2022. His debut novel, There Is No End to This Slope, was published by Wampus Multimedia in 2014. Richard Fulco received an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College where he was the recipient of a MacArthur Scholarship. His plays have either been presented or developed at The New York International Fringe Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, The Flea, Here Arts Center, Chicago Dramatists, and The Dramatists Guild. Richard’s one-act play Swedish Fish was published by Heuer Publishing and his stories, poetry, interviews, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Failbetter, Across the Margin, Fiction Writers Review, Gargoyle, The Daily Vault, and American Songwriter (among others). Richard owns Big Red Books in Nyack, New York.
Anuja Ghimire (Twitter @GhimireAnuja) is an author of four poetry books: two in Nepali, Ankur and Arthaat (Nepali) and two in English, Kathmandu and fable-weavers. Her poems, flash fiction, stories, and essays have been anthologized and nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes. Ghimire has published in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Scotland, and Australia. She works in assessment development and enjoys volunteering as an associate editor for the poetry journal Up the Staircase Quarterly, newsletter editor for the Nepalese American Chamber of Commerce, and a judge for the annual essay writing contest organized by the Nepalese Buddhist Association for school children around Dallas, Texas. She loves conducting creative writing workshops for children in summer camps.
Barry Green has written poetry and short fiction in his younger days, and now, again, does so in his dotage. The time in between is something of a fog. He is retired and lives in Ashland, Virginia, where he sits in his garden and waits for birds to eat the seeds off dead flower heads.
Marc Janssen has been writing poems since around 1980. While not a dinosaur, some people would say that was a long time ago. Early decrepitude has not slowed him down much; his verse can be found scattered around the world in places like Pinyon, Slant, Cirque Journal, Off the Coast and Poetry Salzburg also in his book November Reconsidered. Janssen coordinates the Salem Poetry Project─a weekly reading, the occasionally occurring Salem Poetry Festival, and was a nominee for Oregon Poet Laureate. For more information visit, marcjanssenpoet.com
Jeanne Julian is the author of the full-length collection Like the O in Hope (The Poetry Box, 2019) and two chapbooks, Relic and Myth and Blossom and Loss. Her poetry has won awards from Reed Magazine, The Comstock Review, Naugatuck River Review, the North Carolina Poetry Society, and the Maine Poets’ Society. She regularly reviews books for The Main Street Rag. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in journals such as Visions International, Gyroscope, Hot Pot Magazine, Kakalak, Eastern Iowa Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and Northern New England Review. She received her MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. www.jeannejulian.com
Erren Geraud Kelly is a poet based in Lynn, Massachusetts; writing for 34 years with 400 publications in print and online. Her writings are found in Hiram Poetry Review, Mudfish, Poetry Magazine (online) and other publications. Kelly’s also published in other anthologies such as Fertile Ground and Beyond The Frontier. She received my B.A. in English-Creative Writing from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The themes in her writings vary, but she’s always had a soft spot for subjects and people who are not in the mainstream.
Su Lierz writes horror, suspense, and mainstream fiction. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association and an active member of SouthWest Writers (SWW), in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she currently volunteers by interviewing other authors. Interviews are posted bi-monthly on the SWW Website https://www.southwestwriters.com/ Her most recent publication is with The Horror Zine, where her short story “Sometimes They Follow” appeared in the November issue 2023. She was a finalist and a finalist/runner up in the Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both awards were presented by author David Morrell. Lierz served on the SWW Board for their Anthology Contest Committee in 2022, and participated as an anthology contest judge in 2022 and 2023. Her short story “Twelve Days in April” appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. In 2022 she participated in the New Mexico Arts Imaginative Collective where one of her narratives was selected and published in The Surrealist Dreamers of New Mexico visual art exhibition
An Editor of 3 books and a Member of Review Boards of International Journals, Antara Mukherjee, Ph.D., is a part of the West Bengal [WB] Educational Services for the Government of West Bengal. She is presently teaching in the Department of English, Durgapur Government College, WB. After several national and international publications and presentations in the last two decades, she is currently engaged in exploring Heritages in WB along with pursuing the creative aspects of her being. She loves to travel, observe, listen to the sounds of winds, and rain to medicate herself.
Nimesh Nikhil is a Nepali poet and writer. He has authored three poetry collections, Manharuko Parishar (2065 BS,) Umerko Nadi (2070 BS,) and Shokgeetko Postmartam, (2071 BS). He has actively participated in both national and international literary conferences, having made appearances at notable events across South Asian countries. He is also an editor of the literary magazine Akshya Akshar for the last several years. He has received numerous literary awards, including the prestigious Yuwa Varsha Moti Puraskar (2072 BS,) among others.
Suman Pokhrel is a Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, and translator who predominantly writes in Nepali but also in English, Hindi, and some other South Asian languages. His literary works have been translated into multiple languages and featured in prominent journals worldwide. Pokhrel’s poetry is integrated into the academic syllabi of numerous universities in Nepal and India. Some appreciators of his poetry have had verses tattooed on their body parts. Netizens frequently share and quote verses from his poetry on popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In recognition of his literary contributions, Pokhrel was honored with the SAARC Literary Award in both 2013 and 2015. Additionally, in 2023, he was awarded Asia’s Inspiring Poet Award by Asia Awards and Shaluk International Literature Award by Shaluk, Bangladesh adding to his collection of several other national and international accolades.
Royal Rhodes is a retired educator who lives in a village in rural Ohio. He longs for the sea, near which he was raised. His poems have appeared in literary journals in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. He has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.
John Roche lives in Placitas, New Mexico, helping Jules Nyquist run Jules’ Poetry Playhouse and edit Poetry Playhouse Publications. He taught Literature and Creative Writing classes for decades at various colleges, and was formerly President of Just Poets in Rochester, NY, member of the board of BOA Editions, chief organizer of the Black Mountain North Symposium, and an instigator of the annual Cloudburst Council poets’ retreat in the Finger Lakes. Along with editing the five-volume Poets Speak series and other anthologies (including Mo’ Joe), his own poetry collections include On Conesus, Topicalities, Road Ghosts, The Joe Poems: The Continuing Saga of Joe the Poet, Joe Rides Again: Further Adventures of Joe the Poet, and the forthcoming Tubbables. https://www.poetryplayhouse.com/shop-art-books/johns-books
Geoff Sawers has new work published recently in Blackbox Manifold, Poetry New Zealand, Route 7 Review, Sage Cigarettes; criticism in Culture Matters, and the Times Literary Supplement. His paintings are on Instagram geoff.sawers
Sanu Sharma is a Nepali novelist, short story writer, lyricist, and poet. She has seven novels, a collection of short stories, a collaborative collection of Ghazals, and some lyrical works to her credit. Her prose adeptly tackles the challenges faced by women, girls, and marginalized individuals, casting a spotlight on familial and societal issues that often remain unexplored, whereas her poetry speaks of general emotions.Sharma’s collection of short stories, “Ekadeshmaa,” received acclaim, earning a coveted nomination for the prestigious Nepali award, Madan Puraskar, in 2018. Admirers have adapted her novels and short stories into audio and visual performances. Her latest novel, “Tee Saat Din” (translated as “Those Seven Days”), was published in September 2023. Her next collection of short stories is slated for publication later this year.
Thomas R. Smith is a poet, editor, essayist, and teacher living in River Falls, Wisconsin. His most recent books are a poetry collection, Medicine Year (Paris Morning Publications) and a prose work, Poetry on the Side of Nature: Writing the Nature Poem as an Act of Survival (Red Dragonfly Press). He is working on a prose-poetry hybrid book about living along the Kinnickinnic River in western Wisconsin and a new poetry collection called Beautiful Time. He posts poems and essays on his web site at www.thomasrsmithpoet.com
Timothy Stobierski writes about relationships. His work explores themes of love, lust, longing, and loss─presented through the lens of his own experiences as a queer man. His poetry has been published in a number of journals, including the Connecticut River Review, the Gay & Lesbian Review, and Midwest Quarterly. His first book of poems, Dancehall, was published by Antrim House Books in July 2023. An earlier chapbook, Chronicles of a Bee Whisperer, was published by River Otter Press in 2012.
David Sydney is a physician. He has had pieces in Little Old Lady Comedy, 101 Words, 50 Give or Take, Microfiction Monday, Bright Flash Literary Review, Rue Scribe, Entropy Squared, and Grey Sparrow Journal.
Larry D. Thomas, the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, has published twenty-three print collections of poetry and numerous chapbooks, both in print and online. Winner of the 2023 Spur Award from Western Writers of America (poetry category), he has also won two Western Heritage Wrangler Awards, two Texas Review Poetry Prizes, and the Violet Crown Book Award (poetry category) from the Writers’ League of Texas. Thomas resides in the Chihuahuan Desert of southwestern New Mexico.
Jim Tilley has published three full-length collections of poetry and a novel with Red Hen Press. His short memoir, The Elegant Solution, was published as a Ploughshares Solo. His poem, On the Art of Patience, was selected by Billy Collins to win Sycamore Review’s Wabash Prize for Poetry. Four of his poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His next poetry collection, Ripples in the Fabric of the Universe: New & Selected Poems, will be published in June 2024.
Geeta Tripathee is a Nepali poet, lyricist, essayist, writer, and scholar known for her theoretical writing on literary theory and criticism. She holds a Ph.D. in Nepali Language and Literature from Tribhuvan University and is an Assistant Professor at Tribhuvan University’s Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus. A former member of the Academic Assembly of Nepal Academy, Tripathee has authored several books of poetry, essays, and literary criticism, edited anthologies and literary magazines, and written several research articles related to Nepali literature. Her works primarily focus on personal narratives, environmental issues, and familial relationships. She has received numerous awards, including the Padma Kanya Gold Medal and Krishna Bhushan Bal Memorial Award.
Bhisma Upreti is a poet and essayist. He has published several books of poems and essays. He won first prize for the National Poetry Competition organized by Nepal Academy. He served
as joint Secretary of the Nepal hapter of PEN International.
“Laxmi Prasad Devkota (Nepali: लक्ष्मीप्रसाद देवकोटा) (November 12, 1909 – September 14, 1959) was a Nepali poet, playwright, novelist, and politician. Honored with the title of Mahakabi (Nepali: महाकवि) in Nepali literature, he was known as a poet with a golden heart. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most famous literary figures in Nepal. Some of his popular works include the best-selling Muna Madan, along with Sulochana, Kunjini, Bhikhari, and Shakuntala,” as referenced by Lamsal, Yuba Nath (6 December 2013). “Poet The Great: Laxmi Prasad Devkota,” Gorkhapatra and Hutt, Michael (7 March 2018).“A voice from the past speaking to the present.” Kathmandu: The Record Nepal. secondary references from original article, गिरी, अमर (30 October 2019). “देवकोटा र मानवता: कुन मन्दिरमा जान्छौ यात्री ?”. Gorkhapatra (in Nepali).
AMERICA’S NATIONAL TREASURE
“Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist, and leader of the mythopoetic men’s movement. His best-known prose book is Iron John: A Book About Men (1990), which spent 62 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List and is a key text of the mythopoetic men’s movement. He won the 1968 National Book Award for Poetry for his fierce antiwar collection The Light Around the Body. An influential translator, he introduced many American readers to the work of Pablo Neruda, Tomas Tranströmer, and other world poets. Internationally loved and respected, with his poetry, prose, and activism he helped boost Minnesota’s profile on the international literary map. His Collected Poems were published by W. W. Norton in 2018.” – Thomas R. Smith was Robert Bly’s personal assistant during much of Bly’s life.
CONTRIBUTORS
Christopher Barnes has been published in literary magazines in many countries. He is a gay British poet who also writes poetry criticism essays. He was involved in Newcastle University’s Stemistry course, which was about creative writing on the theme of Stem Cell research, check out the website: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/stemistry/writers/barnes.html
Byron Beynon coordinated Wales’s contribution to the anthology Fifty Strong (Heinemann). His work has featured in several publications including The Grey Sparrow Journal, Agenda, The French Literary Review, Wasafiri, Cyphers, The London Magazine, Poetry Wales, English: Journal of the English Association, and the human rights anthology In Protest (University of London and Keats House Poets). Several collections include The Echoing Coastline (Agenda) and Where Shadows Stir (The Seventh Quarry Press) which was launched at the birthplace of Dylan Thomas, Swansea in February 2023.”
Narayan Bhattarai is a poet, short story writer, and a lyricist. He has been involved in creative writing since his school days. His father inspired him to found a literary and charity organization Yasho Bhanu (YB) Foundation under his parent’s name and is constantly engaged in supporting creative writers in Nepal. He is co-editor of Kavya─representative Nepali Poetry in English. Bhattarai has also served as board member for the Parkland Poet’s Society for two terms. His literary writings have been published in literary magazines, journals, and newspapers including The Outlying Voices and Stroll of Poetry Anthology. He loves to write about the difference between appearance and reality.
Ben Chase is an actor living in New York City, probably best known for playing Detective Freddie Washburn on Law and Order: Organized Crime and one of the leads of The Thing About Pam also on NBC. He has an MFA from Brown in acting. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Milk Book Press (NY Poetry Society) and Gulf Coast Journal. He just had a second son and writes/thinks about his kids constantly.
LB Chhetri is the author of the poetry collection, Bheed Ma Harayeko Manchhe, and two short story collections, Trishanku Ko Deshma and Indramaya Ko Deshmaa. A retired professor of Tribhuvan University, Chhetri is the president of Kavidada Literary Society Chitwan, and Chief Editor of Charaiveti Literary Fortnightly.
Holly Day hails from Minneapolis. She has taught writing classes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since 2000. Her poetry has recently appeared in Tampa Review, SLAB, and Gargoyle, and her published books including Walking Twin Cities, Music Theory for Dummies, and Ugly Girl.
Maureen Eppstein’s most recent poetry collection is Horizon Line (Main Street Rag 2020). Finishing Line Press published her chapbook Earthward in 2014, and will publish a new chapbook, Daughter in 2024. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Grey Sparrow Journal and Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2018.) She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Crossing the boundary between the arts and the sciences, her poems have been included in a textbook on geometric modeling, a university geology course and a National Audubon Society report. A former executive director of the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, she has run a poetry reading series in the Bay Area and taught poetry at the college level. Originally from Aotearoa/New Zealand, she lives in Mendocino CA.
Richard Fulco’s second novel, We Are All Together (Wampus Multimedia), was published in November 2022. His debut novel, There Is No End to This Slope, was published by Wampus Multimedia in 2014. Richard Fulco received an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College where he was the recipient of a MacArthur Scholarship. His plays have either been presented or developed at The New York International Fringe Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, The Flea, Here Arts Center, Chicago Dramatists, and The Dramatists Guild. Richard’s one-act play Swedish Fish was published by Heuer Publishing and his stories, poetry, interviews, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Failbetter, Across the Margin, Fiction Writers Review, Gargoyle, The Daily Vault, and American Songwriter (among others). Richard owns Big Red Books in Nyack, New York.
Anuja Ghimire (Twitter @GhimireAnuja) is an author of four poetry books: two in Nepali, Ankur and Arthaat (Nepali) and two in English, Kathmandu and fable-weavers. Her poems, flash fiction, stories, and essays have been anthologized and nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes. Ghimire has published in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Scotland, and Australia. She works in assessment development and enjoys volunteering as an associate editor for the poetry journal Up the Staircase Quarterly, newsletter editor for the Nepalese American Chamber of Commerce, and a judge for the annual essay writing contest organized by the Nepalese Buddhist Association for school children around Dallas, Texas. She loves conducting creative writing workshops for children in summer camps.
Barry Green has written poetry and short fiction in his younger days, and now, again, does so in his dotage. The time in between is something of a fog. He is retired and lives in Ashland, Virginia, where he sits in his garden and waits for birds to eat the seeds off dead flower heads.
Marc Janssen has been writing poems since around 1980. While not a dinosaur, some people would say that was a long time ago. Early decrepitude has not slowed him down much; his verse can be found scattered around the world in places like Pinyon, Slant, Cirque Journal, Off the Coast and Poetry Salzburg also in his book November Reconsidered. Janssen coordinates the Salem Poetry Project─a weekly reading, the occasionally occurring Salem Poetry Festival, and was a nominee for Oregon Poet Laureate. For more information visit, marcjanssenpoet.com
Jeanne Julian is the author of the full-length collection Like the O in Hope (The Poetry Box, 2019) and two chapbooks, Relic and Myth and Blossom and Loss. Her poetry has won awards from Reed Magazine, The Comstock Review, Naugatuck River Review, the North Carolina Poetry Society, and the Maine Poets’ Society. She regularly reviews books for The Main Street Rag. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in journals such as Visions International, Gyroscope, Hot Pot Magazine, Kakalak, Eastern Iowa Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and Northern New England Review. She received her MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. www.jeannejulian.com
Erren Geraud Kelly is a poet based in Lynn, Massachusetts; writing for 34 years with 400 publications in print and online. Her writings are found in Hiram Poetry Review, Mudfish, Poetry Magazine (online) and other publications. Kelly’s also published in other anthologies such as Fertile Ground and Beyond The Frontier. She received my B.A. in English-Creative Writing from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The themes in her writings vary, but she’s always had a soft spot for subjects and people who are not in the mainstream.
Su Lierz writes horror, suspense, and mainstream fiction. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association and an active member of SouthWest Writers (SWW), in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she currently volunteers by interviewing other authors. Interviews are posted bi-monthly on the SWW Website https://www.southwestwriters.com/ Her most recent publication is with The Horror Zine, where her short story “Sometimes They Follow” appeared in the November issue 2023. She was a finalist and a finalist/runner up in the Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both awards were presented by author David Morrell. Lierz served on the SWW Board for their Anthology Contest Committee in 2022, and participated as an anthology contest judge in 2022 and 2023. Her short story “Twelve Days in April” appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. In 2022 she participated in the New Mexico Arts Imaginative Collective where one of her narratives was selected and published in The Surrealist Dreamers of New Mexico visual art exhibition
An Editor of 3 books and a Member of Review Boards of International Journals, Antara Mukherjee, Ph.D., is a part of the West Bengal [WB] Educational Services for the Government of West Bengal. She is presently teaching in the Department of English, Durgapur Government College, WB. After several national and international publications and presentations in the last two decades, she is currently engaged in exploring Heritages in WB along with pursuing the creative aspects of her being. She loves to travel, observe, listen to the sounds of winds, and rain to medicate herself.
Nimesh Nikhil is a Nepali poet and writer. He has authored three poetry collections, Manharuko Parishar (2065 BS,) Umerko Nadi (2070 BS,) and Shokgeetko Postmartam, (2071 BS). He has actively participated in both national and international literary conferences, having made appearances at notable events across South Asian countries. He is also an editor of the literary magazine Akshya Akshar for the last several years. He has received numerous literary awards, including the prestigious Yuwa Varsha Moti Puraskar (2072 BS,) among others.
Suman Pokhrel is a Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, and translator who predominantly writes in Nepali but also in English, Hindi, and some other South Asian languages. His literary works have been translated into multiple languages and featured in prominent journals worldwide. Pokhrel’s poetry is integrated into the academic syllabi of numerous universities in Nepal and India. Some appreciators of his poetry have had verses tattooed on their body parts. Netizens frequently share and quote verses from his poetry on popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In recognition of his literary contributions, Pokhrel was honored with the SAARC Literary Award in both 2013 and 2015. Additionally, in 2023, he was awarded Asia’s Inspiring Poet Award by Asia Awards and Shaluk International Literature Award by Shaluk, Bangladesh adding to his collection of several other national and international accolades.
Royal Rhodes is a retired educator who lives in a village in rural Ohio. He longs for the sea, near which he was raised. His poems have appeared in literary journals in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. He has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.
John Roche lives in Placitas, New Mexico, helping Jules Nyquist run Jules’ Poetry Playhouse and edit Poetry Playhouse Publications. He taught Literature and Creative Writing classes for decades at various colleges, and was formerly President of Just Poets in Rochester, NY, member of the board of BOA Editions, chief organizer of the Black Mountain North Symposium, and an instigator of the annual Cloudburst Council poets’ retreat in the Finger Lakes. Along with editing the five-volume Poets Speak series and other anthologies (including Mo’ Joe), his own poetry collections include On Conesus, Topicalities, Road Ghosts, The Joe Poems: The Continuing Saga of Joe the Poet, Joe Rides Again: Further Adventures of Joe the Poet, and the forthcoming Tubbables. https://www.poetryplayhouse.com/shop-art-books/johns-books
Geoff Sawers has new work published recently in Blackbox Manifold, Poetry New Zealand, Route 7 Review, Sage Cigarettes; criticism in Culture Matters, and the Times Literary Supplement. His paintings are on Instagram geoff.sawers
Sanu Sharma is a Nepali novelist, short story writer, lyricist, and poet. She has seven novels, a collection of short stories, a collaborative collection of Ghazals, and some lyrical works to her credit. Her prose adeptly tackles the challenges faced by women, girls, and marginalized individuals, casting a spotlight on familial and societal issues that often remain unexplored, whereas her poetry speaks of general emotions.Sharma’s collection of short stories, “Ekadeshmaa,” received acclaim, earning a coveted nomination for the prestigious Nepali award, Madan Puraskar, in 2018. Admirers have adapted her novels and short stories into audio and visual performances. Her latest novel, “Tee Saat Din” (translated as “Those Seven Days”), was published in September 2023. Her next collection of short stories is slated for publication later this year.
Thomas R. Smith is a poet, editor, essayist, and teacher living in River Falls, Wisconsin. His most recent books are a poetry collection, Medicine Year (Paris Morning Publications) and a prose work, Poetry on the Side of Nature: Writing the Nature Poem as an Act of Survival (Red Dragonfly Press). He is working on a prose-poetry hybrid book about living along the Kinnickinnic River in western Wisconsin and a new poetry collection called Beautiful Time. He posts poems and essays on his web site at www.thomasrsmithpoet.com
Timothy Stobierski writes about relationships. His work explores themes of love, lust, longing, and loss─presented through the lens of his own experiences as a queer man. His poetry has been published in a number of journals, including the Connecticut River Review, the Gay & Lesbian Review, and Midwest Quarterly. His first book of poems, Dancehall, was published by Antrim House Books in July 2023. An earlier chapbook, Chronicles of a Bee Whisperer, was published by River Otter Press in 2012.
David Sydney is a physician. He has had pieces in Little Old Lady Comedy, 101 Words, 50 Give or Take, Microfiction Monday, Bright Flash Literary Review, Rue Scribe, Entropy Squared, and Grey Sparrow Journal.
Larry D. Thomas, the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, has published twenty-three print collections of poetry and numerous chapbooks, both in print and online. Winner of the 2023 Spur Award from Western Writers of America (poetry category), he has also won two Western Heritage Wrangler Awards, two Texas Review Poetry Prizes, and the Violet Crown Book Award (poetry category) from the Writers’ League of Texas. Thomas resides in the Chihuahuan Desert of southwestern New Mexico.
Jim Tilley has published three full-length collections of poetry and a novel with Red Hen Press. His short memoir, The Elegant Solution, was published as a Ploughshares Solo. His poem, On the Art of Patience, was selected by Billy Collins to win Sycamore Review’s Wabash Prize for Poetry. Four of his poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His next poetry collection, Ripples in the Fabric of the Universe: New & Selected Poems, will be published in June 2024.
Geeta Tripathee is a Nepali poet, lyricist, essayist, writer, and scholar known for her theoretical writing on literary theory and criticism. She holds a Ph.D. in Nepali Language and Literature from Tribhuvan University and is an Assistant Professor at Tribhuvan University’s Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus. A former member of the Academic Assembly of Nepal Academy, Tripathee has authored several books of poetry, essays, and literary criticism, edited anthologies and literary magazines, and written several research articles related to Nepali literature. Her works primarily focus on personal narratives, environmental issues, and familial relationships. She has received numerous awards, including the Padma Kanya Gold Medal and Krishna Bhushan Bal Memorial Award.
Bhisma Upreti is a poet and essayist. He has published several books of poems and essays. He won first prize for the National Poetry Competition organized by Nepal Academy. He served as joint Secretary of the Nepal hapter of PEN International.
Grey Sparrow Journal 