Himalayan Literature Festival Concludes in Kathmandu

Kathmandu. The 'Himalayan Literature Festival and Writers Workshop, 2026' focused on the main theme 'Madness, Treatment, and Creative Writing in the New World Order' has been completed.

The festival, which lasted for eight days, was successfully completed with literary dialogues, cultural exchanges, workshops, poetry readings, film screenings, and community-oriented programs. The festival brought together writers, poets, scholars, translators, filmmakers, teachers, and students from Nepal and various countries around the world on one platform.

The festival, held from May 29 to June 5 in various cultural sites of the Kathmandu Valley, featured Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Tracy K. Smith and Paul Muldoon, Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, The Irish Times Book Editor Martin Doyle, renowned poet and translator Tony Barnstone, popular novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, and Himalayan poet Yuyutsu Sharma, among more than 75 writers, artists, scholars, and cultural figures from Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and Australia.

The festival, inaugurated by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dr. Vikram Timilsina, discussed the transformative power of literature, art, spirituality, and contemplative traditions. Participants engaged in masterclasses, creative writing workshops, panel discussions, poetry readings, cultural presentations, and cultural tours of Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan, Boudhanath, Budhanilkantha, and Nagarkot, gaining a deep introduction to Nepal's cultural and spiritual heritage.

Yuyutsu R.D. Sharma, the founder and director of the festival, stated that this is Nepal's first international poetry film festival dedicated to the interrelationship between literature, poetry, and film, and that this initiative provides new expression to literary imagination through visual media, creating new possibilities for interdisciplinary dialogue.

A special attraction of the festival was the panel discussion on the relationship between poetry and film, which included filmmakers Peter Salisbury and Carola Mair, and Instituto Cervantes Director Maria Gil Berman.

The influence of world-renowned directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Luis Buñuel, John Boorman, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Andrzej Wajda, Wojciech Has, and Krzysztof Kieślowski was also discussed.

This international film program was held in collaboration with cultural exchanges with the Polish Institute New Delhi, Instituto Cervantes, the Portuguese Embassy, and the Austrian Cultural Forum.