The eighth edition of the IME Nepal Literature Festival will be held from December 13 to 16, 2019, in Pokhara. The Festival will host over 100 Nepali and international speakers, who will deliberate on various important and interesting issues. The highlights of this year’s edition will be the participation of the most exciting authors of Nepal and the South Asian region, and the announcement of the winner of the $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, the biggest prize given to literary works from and about South Asia. The nominees for this year’s prize are Amitabha Bagchi, Jamil Jan Kochai, Madhuri Vijay, Manoranjan Byapari, Raj Kamal Jha and Sadia Abbas. Most of these writers including the jury members of the prize will be present at the award ceremony and participate in various panel discussions.
Apart from these international speakers, dozens of Nepal writers, Nepali cinema actors and celebrities, editors and columnists, journalist, social activists and businesspersons will attend the Festival as speakers. Former finance minister Dr. Devendra Raj Pandey is slated to give the key note speech at the Festival this year.