Manjushree Thapa
@manjushreethapa.bsky.social
570 followers 220 following 350 posts
Writer & literary translator from Kathmandu, now based in Toronto. Always, always working on a new book. www.manjushreethapa.com
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manjushreethapa.bsky.social
Gone offline, may be a while.
Reposted by Manjushree Thapa
littranslate.bsky.social
The 2025 NTA shortlists feature authors writing in 8 different languages and books from 13 different presses, celebrating the diversity of literature in translation in English and the large, vibrant community of translators, publishers and readers.
Reposted by Manjushree Thapa
littranslate.bsky.social
🎉 We are delighted to announce the shortlists for the 2025 National Translation Awards (NTA) in Poetry and Prose!

2025 marks the 27th year for the NTA, and the 11th year to award separate prizes in poetry and prose.

View the lists here: literarytranslators.org/the-2025-nat...
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
No prizes for guessing where we were this evening. 🩵
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
I picked up these books today, and expect to be a lot more intelligent by the time I’m done reading them—Tsering Wangmo Dhompa’s The Politics of Sorrow and (ed) Benjamin Linder’s Kathmadu: A Reader. 📚
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
“Each one of these groups can by themselves take the nation down, but none of them can by themselves build it up again”—my favourite analysis about Nepal as we go into the festivals. 🇳🇵
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
As it did after the 2015 earthquake, the Government of Nepal has established a reconstruction fund following the widespread destruction of the Gen Z movement of Sept 8 & 9. Anyone can donate from anywhere in the world. (Screenshot from X).
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
Also, are we noting the incredible hyper-masculinity of Nepal’s political sphere?

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose?

I’d like to be wrong.
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by the analysis-to-action ratio in Nepal? So much language around what has happened, and what will/will not. It really brings to mind the Lacanian framing of language as the main means through which we understand and address psychic wounds.
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
What do you do with a democracy that refuses to serve the demos – the people?

For 75 years now, following Nepal’s short-lived experiment with democracy in 1950, each generation has had to answer this question anew.

My view on where Nepal stands now:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/b6403fe...
Despite decades of setbacks, Nepal still dreams of democracy
A new generation of Nepalis is yet to figure out what no previous generation has: how to make democracy serve the people
www.theglobeandmail.com
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
This transition should rightly be civilian- not army-led.

But the right wing (monarchists, Hindutva) is poised to take advantage by creating chaos. Dangerous times.
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
It’s very encouraging to see everyone who has been part of these struggles speak up in favour of maintaining a civilian-led constitutional order to achieve more democracy for Nepal, not less.

It’s also good to see the President finally speak up.
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
After all the gains of the 1950 democracy struggle, the 1979/80 referendum, the 1990 movement for democracy, the 2006 rejection of Gyanendra Shah’s army coup, and the 2008-2015 search for a more inclusive, federal democratic state.
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
Every generation has to fight the permanent establishment of Nepal anew. (Thank you forever to CK Lal for giving us that term—the PEON).

Does Gen Z really want to help the Hindu caste-based order, the monarchy, and an undemocratic system return?
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
The worry for those of us who have lived through and supported Nepal’s many democracy movements before is that sincere GenZ activists will be used to stage a soft (or hard) right-wing coup. Is this movement going to result in more democracy, or less? That’s what I’m watching for.
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
My observations on 🇳🇵from afar: the next few days are very crucial, as is the main question before the Gen-Z leadership: do they want to stay within the current (2015) constitution or not? And if not, how do they plan to ensure that Nepal remains a democracy?
manjushreethapa.bsky.social
Okay, Boomer. Over 2 turbulent days, & at the sacrifice of many young lives, Gen Z in Nepal has succeeded in ousting the country’s top political leaders. Here’s hoping the change they usher in takes Nepal towards more democracy, rule of law, and civil and human rights. 🕊️🇳🇵
Reposted by Manjushree Thapa
calmandfearless.bsky.social
Police open fire on demonstrators across Nepal killing 19. That death toll will rise, I'm sure. Banning WhatsApp was the inciting incident but government corruption lies at the heart of unrest. kathmandupost.com/national/202...
19 dead in Gen Z protests across Nepal
Hundreds injured as police open fire; curfews imposed in multiple cities.
kathmandupost.com