Chinese poet's "Mother's Hand" hits bookstores

Kathmandu–A bilingual English-Nepali version of "Mother's Hand", an anthology of selected poems by noted Chinese poet and writer Jidi Majia, has hit the book stores here.

The poems included in this collection have been translated from English to Nepali by renowned Himalayan Poet, Yuyutsu RD Sharma. The book is published by Nirala Publications, New Delhi.

The book is divided into three parts and contains 27 selected poems and their Nepali rendition. Through the poems, Majia celebrates the timeless traditions of his birthplace, Greater Liangshan, Sichuan, of his Nuosu people, with their own independent mythology, folklore, legends, epics and heroes similar to Han Chinese way of life or world of indigenous Himalayan ethnic groups.

Majia writes about subjects close to a Himalayan poet's heart: mothers, mountains, shamans, ancestral spirits wine and poets and artists he has met or desires to meet during his travels across the world.

Regarding his motivation for translating Majia's poems, translator Sharma said he chose to translate Chinese Himalayan poet Majia's poems and publish them as the themes are common to Nepal and to introduce the global trend of poetry. "An appropriate writing workshop can also be conducted with the help of this anthology," Sharma suggested.

According to him, in his works Majia forms a bridge between his indigenous Nuosu and mainstream Chinese ethos. "In Majia's creative world, the mothers can be found singing songs of ancestral spirits, on his poetry the celebration of Nuosu mythology and worldview is compelling," Sharma said.

In the words of American poet Jack Hirschman, "Jidi Majia… not only a wondrous poet but, as a cultural force for the transformation of the world through the infusions of the art of poetry, … deserving of the Nobel Prize for Literature, if ever any writer was deserving of it." Sharma said he will also translate poems of French, German, Spanish, Portugese, American and Latin American poets.