This year’s Buddhi-Resham Memorial Artists’ Felicitation has been awarded to three senior writers from Nepal. In a programme organised by the Jalarika Literary Foundation, on Monday, writers Krishna Bhakta Shrestha, Anita Tuladhar, and Ashesh Malla were conferred the awards in genres poetry, story, and theatre, respectively. Cultural expert Satya Mohan Joshi, who presided over the event as chief guest, provided the awardees with a Tamra patra and a purse of Rs 100,000 each. Addressing the audience, Joshi said that awards as such are always meant to motivate and honour writers as well as to bring their works into the limelight.

At the event, author Mahesh Paudyal gave a brief introduction of all the awardees. Krisha Bhakta Shrestha, a veteran progressive poet, represents the first generation of Nepali modern poetry. Similarly, Anita Tuladhar is a veteran storywriter; while Ashesh Malla is a playwright, poet, actor, and founder of Sarwanam Theatre.   

Jalarika Literary Foundation was established by poet Dwarika Shrestha and his wife Jaleshwori Shrestha, in 2012, in the memory of poet Shrestha’s late parents. Initially, the scope of this Foundation was limited to organising literary conferences and publishing books but, since 2017, it has been awarding writers annually. The event also saw the launch of Ful Fulaune Gamala, written by co-founder Jaleshwori Shrestha.