Himalayan Literature Festival

27/08/2026

HLFWWK Executive Director Sukrity Sharma column in Nepal's leading Deshshanchar

Nowadays, fake news is everywhere, and it is spreading at an alarming rate with the increased use of social media apps and AI technology. What is fake news, you ask? It is a fabrication of misleading and made-up stories that do not have a reliable source to begin with. It makes you believe that it [...

26/08/2026

HLF-WWK 2027 | Vinita Agrawal : We are delighted to announce Vinita Agrawal as a participating poet at the Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers’ Workshop (HLF-WWK) 2027, taking place in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 29 May to 5 June 2027.

Vinita Agrawal is the author of seven books of poetry and editor of two anthologies on climate change. Her latest collection, The Hour of God, is published by Red River Press.

Her poem “A Place Both Inside and Out” was shortlisted for Poem of the Year 2026 by Arc Poetry, Canada. In May 2026, she received the Fresh New Voice Award from Mulberry Literary Review. She was also runner-up for the Mānoa Poetry Prize 2025 and the Earth Amulet Poetry Prize from River Paw Press.

Her honours include the Jayanta Mahapatra National Award for Literature (2024) and the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize (2018). She has convened the PEN All-India Centre at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, and serves on the advisory board of the Tagore Literary Prize.

Join us in Kathmandu for a week of poetry, literature, conversations, readings, workshops, and encounters with writers from Nepal and around the world.

29 May – 5 June 2027
The Malla Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal
Theme: Nature Writing, Travel Writing & the Spirit: Writing the Earth, Mapping the Soul

🔗 Register for HLF-WWK 2027:
https://hlf.whitelotusbookshop.com/hlf-registration-2027/

🔗 Read the HLF-WWK 2027 Announcement:
https://hlf.whitelotusbookshop.com/announcing-the-himalayan-literature-festival-writers-workshop-2027/

25/08/2026

Fond Memories: The release of Pratik magazine’s Australian issue by the then Ambassador Felicity Volk at the Embassy in Kathmandu

25/08/2026

Fond Memory: The launch of Australian issue of Pratik at the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu with the then Ambassador Felicity Volk

25/08/2026

HLF-WWK 2026 Visiting author Kavita A. Jindal's award winning novel now available at White Lotus Book Shop, Kathmandu.

25/08/2026

Mani Rao at HLF–WWK 2027

We are delighted to welcome acclaimed poet, translator, scholar, and performer Mani Rao to the faculty of the Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers’ Workshop (HLF–WWK) 2027 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

An author of thirteen poetry collections, Mani Rao’s latest book, So That You Know (HarperCollins, 2025), adds to a remarkable body of work that moves between poetry, translation, spirituality, scholarship, and performance.

She is celebrated for her innovative translations of the Bhagavad Gita, Saundarya Lahari, and works of Kalidasa. Her groundbreaking study, Living Mantra: Mantra, Deities and Visionary Experience Today (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), explores mantra as a lived spiritual experience.

Rao’s work has appeared widely in journals and anthologies around the world, including Indian Literature, Wasafiri, Iowa Review, Colorado Review, Meanjin, and Poetry Daily. Her poetry has been translated into German, French, Latin, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Kannada, Arabic, and other languages.

A former resident of the Iowa International Writing Program, OMI Ledig House, and the International Poetry Studies Institute (Canberra), she has performed at major literary and cultural platforms including the Jaipur Literature Festival, New York PEN World Voices, Hindu Lit for Life, Melbourne Writers’ Festival, Chicago Humanities Festival, and Hong Kong International Literary Festival.

Her distinctive work—combining lyrical intensity, spiritual inquiry, experimentation with language and form, and powerful performance—makes her a particularly exciting addition to HLF–WWK 2027.

HLF–WWK 2027

Nature Writing, Travel Writing & the Spirit: Writing the Earth, Mapping the Soul at Malla Hotel,
Kathmandu, Nepal | May 29 – June 5, 2027

The festival brings together writers, poets, translators, scholars, editors, publishers, filmmakers, and artists from around the world for workshops, masterclasses, readings, panels, cultural excursions, and literary exchange.

Registration is now open.

Register for HLF–WWK 2027

Visit the HLF–WWK 2027 website: Hlf.whitelotusbookshop.com

Come to Kathmandu and join Mani Rao and an extraordinary international faculty for eight days of literature, creativity, culture, and Himalayan inspiration.

23/08/2026

Richard Blanco: First American Inaugural Poet to Visit Nepal

A HISTORIC FIRST FOR NEPAL!

We are delighted to welcome acclaimed American poet Richard Blanco to the faculty of the Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers’ Workshop (HLF–WWK) 2027 in Kathmandu.

Richard Blanco will be the first American inaugural poet to visit Nepal, making his participation a particularly historic moment for the festival and for Nepal’s literary community.

Watch Richard Blanco read “One Today,” the inaugural poem he delivered at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013.

A historic voice. A powerful poem. And now, a very special presence at HLF–WWK 2027.

May 29 – June 5, 2027
Kathmandu, Nepal

Theme: Nature Writing, Travel Writing & the Spirit: Writing the Earth, Mapping the Soul

Registration is now open:
Register for HLF–WWK 2027
Hlf.whitelotusbookshop.com

Poet Richard Blanco reads a poem for President Obama's second inaug...

23/08/2026

21/08/2026

Truly Inspiring ! At just 19, American Maggie Doyne invested $5,000 of her savings to buy land in Surkhet, Nepal, where she started a home for vulnerable children.

What began as a small initiative later grew into the BlinkNow Foundation and Kopila Valley School, providing education and care to hundreds of children.

Her work has become an inspiring example of how one person’s compassion can create lasting change.