Peter J. Karthak
पिटर जे. कार्थक
Peter John Karthak has led a checkered life as a Rock 'n' Roll bandleader in Darjeeling of the 1960s and worked as a session musician (1966- 1976) at Radio Nepal's studios while also playing for Amber Gurung and many other Nepali musicmakers - such as Nati Kazi, Gopal Yonzon, Shiva Shanker, Aruna Lama, Narayan Gopal et al in Darjeeling and Kathmandu from 1960 to 1980. He has been a gardener's assistant, a croupier and casino inspector, highway builder, college and university lecturer in Kathmandu and Bangkok, travel agent, tourist guide, writer, journalist, editor and consulting freelancer and translator. He was in the first Nepali editorial team to launch the Indian-owned English-language daily newspaper, The Himalayan Times, in Kathmandu in 2000, then moved to The Kathmandu Post in 2002, and was a founding staff member at Republica from its inception in 2008. He obtained his Master's degree in English Literature, American Literature, Linguistics and Language Studies from the Tribhuvan University of Nepal in 1971. He began his literary life by writing in Nepali: His first and only novel, ‘Pratyek Thhaun: Pratyek Manchhe, won the Sajha Puraskar of 1978; he translated it in English 'EveryPlace: EveryPerson' and it was published in 2004. His other work in Nepali is the collection of short stories, called 'Peterka Kathaharu. From 1990 to 2015, Peter spent 25 years in Kathmandu's English-language media world as copy editor, feature writer and columnist the aforementioned newspapers, among other houses, and also wrote for Himal Southasian, Nepali Times and other publications, including The Nation of Bangkok. Peter's newest works include 'Nepali Musicmakers'—his reminiscences of many major Nepali music composers and singers-and is being published by Himal Books. 'Kathmandruids' is Peter's first original and wholesale novel in English.
