Book delayed by lockdown hits the stands
As life and market enters into a reopening phase after the lockdown, Nepa~laya has decided to send their pending books to the market. Earlier in April, through a press communiqué, Nepa~laya had updated how the pandemic had affected their book releases. As the severity of lockdown eases, Nepa~laya is ready to resume with Parityekta, a work of fiction by Bhuwan Dhungana.
‘As the market reopens, we have started receiving a lot of inquiries regarding our to-be-published books. The extended isolation has also piqued the appetite of readers,’ says Saijan Maskey of Publication Nepa~laya. ‘So we have decided to start our physical book distribution in this post lockdown phase with Parityekta, which was all set to be released last year but got delayed due to the pandemic.
Parityekta is a work of fiction, written in the first person’s stream-of-consciousness narrative. The story unravels the internal landscape of a woman, who branching out into many roles of daughter, beloved, wife, and mother, nevertheless constantly stumbles upon the well of loneliness from which the sense of abandonment springs perennially.
This is the first novel by Dhungana, who debuted as a writer in 1970 with a story in Madhuparka, one of the leading literary magazines. Dhungana is also a graduate in classical dance from Bishwa Bharati University, better known as Shanti Niketan, besides being a literature graduate. She has already published her short story collection – Dharma Bimba and Yuddha ko Ghoshana Aghi earlier. Dhungana is the recipient of many awards including BP Koirala Sahitya Samman.
“I am glad that after some delay the book will finally reach the market,” Dhungana said. “When you birth a book, the author knows that it can only fully come alive once it reaches the hands of the readers. So, the process of watching it take the shape of a book and then to finally reach into the hands of the readers is the most satisfying feeling an author can have.”
Speaking about the book, Bhushita Vasistha, the publishing editor said, “This book will add a meaningful dimension to the discourse of identity and gender in Nepal. Dhungana’s book is a meditation on the existence of an individual beyond the assigned roles of gender. It’s succinct and lyrical narrative will also bring freshness to Nepali literary market.”
Nepa~laya had recently announced their first book to be primarily released as an e-book. As a prelude for this release, singles chapter releases were initiated and to date two single chapters from Sujeev Shakya’s new book Arthat Pariwartan have been made public. “We are very happy to see the response for this new experiment of Single Chapter release”, said Saijan Maskey.
Bhuwan Dhungana’s Parityekta is priced at Rs.275 for the Nepalese market. It will be available in all leading bookstores within the country and will also be simultaneously available as an e-book on Thuprai. It will also be available worldwide through Amazon.
