Today, my post introduces ‘Kathalaya’ publishing from Nepal along with its activities and some of the books it has published in English.  

Kathalaya, a publication house in Nepal established in 2007, is focused on developing reading culture among children. It has provided its service to more than 2.5 million children in more than 8000 schools in Nepal. Kathalaya has grown from a small organization. Currently, it has 10 regular and 30 additional indirect teams working under its umbrella. It has published more than 300 titles locally and in partnership with international publishers. Kathalaya has successfully acquired rights to children’s titles from renowned international publishers such as Scholastic, Usborn, Gyldendal, Hachet UK, Viking US and many more. It has been working in developing reading culture, library establishment, children’s literature promotion as well as capacity building of authors, illustrators, and editors. It has also started WeRead mobile app for Android and iOS to promote Nepalese books worldwide. It has started selling books on international platforms like Amazon and Kobo.  

Crossing Shadows

Crossing Shadows, written by Shiwani Neupane, is a young adult fiction novel. Crossing Shadows, which chronicles the uniquely interconnected lives of half-a-dozen characters, is Shiwani’s second novel. The novel deals with stories from a Nepali village Tandrang of Gorkha and it is all about love, suspense, romance, and murder. Read more here.

ISBN: 978-9937629911

Take the Lead

Take the Lead: Nepal’s Future Has Begun is a book on Nepalese self-help by Anil Chitrakar.

In the book’s preface, Mr. Chitrakar writes: “If you still believe in shared prosperity and reinstating Nepal’s true place in the global community, you will read and share the contents of this book.”

There are eight chapters in the book with multiple sub-chapters within each one, and from the start, Take The Lead is an inviting and easy read, and many of its chapters outright fun in the way in which some fairly heavy socio-political, development, and economic issues are presented.

Read more about the book on EXCLUSIVE: ANIL CHITRAKAR’S BOOK “TAKE THE LEAD – NEPAL’S FUTURE HAS BEGUN by Kashish Das Shrestha.

Children’s books

Christmas Gift by Roma Pradhan, ASIN: B06WGM62GC

Christmas’ Gift, beautifully illustrated by renowned illustrator Samit Shrestha, is written by Roma Pradhan, a pre-primary school teacher by profession. In this book, a girl called Nanu wonders who gives a gift to Santa Claus. Has he received any yet? She decides to give him one, breaks her piggy bag, buys a gift and writes a letter to Santa. One day Santa invites her to meet.

Little ghost by Anuradha Sharma, ASIN: B06W9DSXSZ

A Little Ghost, written by Anuradha Sharma, is illustrated by Samit Shrestha. A little ghost asks his mum whether people get scared of them. She suggests that one day a time will come to scare and that he may not do it until then. One day the ghost kid wants to try it out by scaring a girl at home, but it becomes a joke as the ghost kid gets scared by the girl.

Source: Rajeev Dhar, Kathalaya

Rajeev Dhar has worked in a school library in Nepal, promoting a reading culture and developing reading skills for eight years leading the team Room to Read, an international development organization. He started Kathalaya for developing reading culture as a profit-making publishing venture and started working to set up the school library system, package training, and networking. As a fellow, he has visited Gottenburg- Sweden, Oklohama-US, Bologna-Italy, Frankfurt-Germany, Istanbul-Turkey and Sharjah, Netherland to understand children book publication and markets as well as the library and reading culture activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compiled and written by Dr Sangita Swechcha

Dr Sangita Swechcha is a Communications Professional, Researcher, and a Fiction writer. She has over 15 years of experience in international communications and media relations. She is a Guest Editor for Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI) and coordinating ‘Nepali Literature month’ – November 2019. She is a novelist and a writer who has written a novel ‘Pakhalieko Siundo‘, a joint collection of stories ‘Asahamatika Pailaharu’ and a collection of short stories ‘Gulafsangako Prem‘ in Nepali.

Forthcoming in English translations in 2020 in e-book formats first: A novel ‘Pakhalieko Siundo’ and a collection of short stories ‘Gulafsangako Prem’, titled in English as ‘The Rose: An Unusual Love Story’ (looking for international publisher/s for publishing print versions of these books). Her twitter handle: @SangyShrestha. Email: sangyshrestha@hotmail.com Connect on Facebook.