Suman Pokhrel

Suman Pokhrel (Nepali: सुमन पोखरेल; born on September 21, 1967) is a multilingual Nepali poet, lyricist. translator, and an artist. His works have been acclaimed and are published internationally.
Suman Pokhrel is considered as one of the most important creative voices of South Asia. He is only writer to receive SAARC Literary Award twice. He received this award in 2013 and 2015 for his own poetry and his contributions to poetry and art in general in the South Asian region.

Suman Pokhrel was born on September 21, 1967, in Mills Area, Biratnagar, to Mukunda Prasad Pokhrel and Bhakta Devi Pokhrel.

A view of Pokhrel's ancestral village Kachide

Suman Pokhrel attended Bal Mandir, a government owned Kindergarten in Biratnagar, until he was five. Pokhrel got moved to his ancestral village of Kachide in Dhankuta at the age of seven and raised there by his paternal grandmother. His grandfather Bidhyanath Pokhrel was a poet and a politician. He was introduced to literature early through the influence of his grandfather's library, filled with Nepali, Hindi and classic Sanskrit literature. At the age of twelve, he moved back to Biratnagar to live with his parents. Pokhrel was mentored by his father, who was an engineer by profession and a bibliophile with a keen interest in art and literature.

Pokhrel earned his BSc, MBA and BL from the Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

Suman Pokhrel

Suman Pokhrel joined the Nepali civil service in Nepal Government as a Section Officer in February 1995. He left the job and joined Plan International in December 1998 as a development activist and went to the remote hilly region of the country. The job demanded visits to the more remote areas of the region.

During his visits to the deprived villages he internalized the hardship of life the men, women and children were experiencing over there. The sceneries of lives he observed groomed his inner poet. During his visits to one of those places he wrote the poem Khorampa, named after a poverty smitten village in Bhojpur district of his country. In this poem, he has beautifully painted the hardship of life with the fringes of words.

Suman Pokhrel's poems in English are appeared in different international poetry journals and anthologies including Snow Jewel; Life and Legends; The Songs We Share; Sweet and Sour Dreams, South Asia; Global Poetry, Learning & Creativity; Grey Sparrow; Prachya Review; California Quarterly; Asian Signature and in different volumes of Beyond Borders, South Asia; and Art of Being Human,Canada.

Pokhrel has read his poems for various international audiences. He has read his poems in SAARC Festivals of Literature in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. He read his poem in SAARC Charter Day Celebrations on December 8, 2013 in New Delhi, India as an especial invitee. He recited his poems in Nepali during a monthly two-poet poetry recital program in Kathmandu in March 2015, which was the first-ever opportunity for audience of Kathmandu to listen to his poetry in his own voice. He read his poems at All India Poets' Meet in Orissa, India in February 2016 as an especial invitee poet from foreign country.

An impressive multilingual poet, Pokhrel has published scores of his works. Many of his works have been translated into several languages. He is regarded as one of the most important creative voices of South Asia. Lines form his poems are quoted by various contemporaty South Asian writers in their write-ups.

Most of English translations of his poems has been rendered by Abhi Subedi. Some are translated by himself. Some other are translated by Mukul Dahal and other translators.

Suman Pokhrel is a poet with a strong tender voice. He partakes in the mundane aspect of life with a passion that makes his reader to elevate to a higher self. The impressionable images created by him allow his readers to introspect. His poems revolve around the nuances of life. The play around his choice of words creates magic in the minds of his readers. The impressionable images created by him allow his readers to introspect. His poems revolve around the nuances of life. The play around his choice of words creates magic in the minds of his readers. Pokhrel's lyrics are marked for their musical qualities and literary verve.

Indian writer and critic Anuja Ghosh says, "Suman Pokhrel's poem Children creates tenderness in the mind. It is indescribable the way the poet has drawn out the innocence of children metaphorically with Nature. The rhetoric question at the end leaves an indelible mark in the minds of the reader. Where as in his poem You Are, as You Are, he exudes humility in expressing love. The importance of love quotient in one's life is spelled in this poem, a simple submission almost in the form of a ritual. There is an abundance of sublime purity in his expression of love."

One of Suman Pokhrel's most quoted poems, Every Morning emphatically declares the uncertainty of existence. It comes as a rude shock that how casually we take everything for granted. In a world which is filled with a plethora of violence, tragedy and devaluation of life the poet seeks gratitude for his being. His poem Every Morning is like a gentle reminder to mankind.

His poem The Taj Mahal and My Love, is an innovative poem. The epitome of love creates awe in the mind of one and all, falls short to a lover who wants to give it all in this lifetime and not be delusional like Shah Jahan. The poet has penned down the poem with reverence to the greatness of the Taj Mahal.

As a translator, Pokhrel has translated poems of several poets from around the world into Nepali; and has translated various Nepali language poets' works into English, Hindi and Urdu.

His Nepali translations of poems have been considered as among a few best translations of poetry into Nepali ever in the history of creative translation in Nepal.

Poetry

• Shoonya Mutuko Dhadkanbhitra – 1999 (शून्य मुटुको धड्कनभित्र) २०५६, Vaani Publication Biratnagar
• Jeevanko Chheubaata – 2009 (जीवनको छेउबाट), Vaani Publication Biratnagar ISBN 978-99946-36-55-6
• Hazaar Aankhaa Yee Aankhaamaa 2003 (हजार आँखा यी आँखामा), Vaani Publication Biratnagar ISBN 978-99933-656-3-1

Play

• Yajnaseni

Translations

Poetry

• Translation of numbers of works of foreign poets into Nepali; that include the works of Anna Akhmatova, Anna Swir, Allen Ginsberg, Delmira Agustini, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Forough Farrokhzad, Gabriela Mistral, Gulzar, Jacques Prévert, Mahmoud Darwish, Nazik Al Malaika, Nazim Hikmet, Nizar Qabbani, Octavio Paz, Pablo Neruda, Sahir Ludhiyanvi, Sylvia Plath, Yehuda Amichai along with many more.
• Translation of poetry of various Nepali poets including Lakshmi Prasad Devkota, Gopal Prasad Rimal, Bhupi Sherchan, Abhi Subedi, Krishna Bhooshan Bal into Hindi.

Play

• Translation of the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare into Nepali as Aandhibehari (आँधीबेहरी)

Other

• Translation of Ajit Cour's memoir One Zero One into Nepali as Phiranta (फिरन्ता)

Discography

Art Works and Paintings

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  a painting entitled 'Yuwati' from 'Women' series by Suman Pokhrel

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  a painting entitled 'Nareedeep' from 'Women' series by Suman Pokhrel

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  a painting entitled 'Patience' from 'Women' series by Suman Pokhrel

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  a painting from 'Mother and Child' series by Suman Pokhrel

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  a painting from 'Mother and Child' series by Suman Pokhrel

Pokhrel receiving SAARC Literary Award 2013

Pokhrel receiving SAARC Literary Award 2015

International

• SAARC Literary Award 2015 – conferred by Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature
• SAARC Literary Award 2013 – conferred by Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature
• Parikalpna Award 2012 – conferred by Parikalpana Samaya, India

National

• Jaycees Award for Literature 2015 - conferred by Biratnagar Jaycees
• Person of the Year (Literature) 2015 - Youth for Blood
• Aarohan Bishesh Samman 2013 - conferred by Aarohan Gurukul
• Jayandra Best Book of the Year 2009 – conferred by Jayandra Prasai Academy 2010.

• http://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/books/five-writers-honoured-at-saarc-literature-festival/article1-1024426.aspx
• "Pustak Sansar". 
• http://ourbiratnagar.net/बिराटनगर-जेसिसको-पोखरेल
• http://onlinepatrika.com/59881/
• Kantipur National Daily, p.11 Sunday 24 March 2013
• "जयेन्द्र प्रसाई साहित्य पुरस्कार कवि पोखरेललाई". Pratinidhibelgium.com. September 6, 2010. Retrieved 2014-05-25.