Amar Neupane is one of Nepal’s prominent writers. Originally from Chitwan, Neupane started writing at the early age of 10. He stared his literary journey by publishing some of his earlier works in a local newspaper in Chitwan. His first novel ‘Paniko Gham’, published in 2009, was awarded the Padmashree Sahitya Samman the same year. Moreover, his great literary masterpiece, ‘Seto Dharti’ was awarded the Madan Puraskar and the Ramraj Panta Smriti Puraskar in 2011.
Amar Neupane in conversation with My City’s Sonam Lama shared the five things that people may not know about him.
Fond of painting
Neupane was innately drawn to the arts and started painting during his early childhood. Led by his passion, he completed a six-month course from Srijana Contemporary Art Gallery in 1997. His paintings won the ‘Utkrishta Puraskar’ at the Chitwan Mahotsav held in 2000. As of today, he has painted more than two hundred paintings.
A bibliophile
Neupane, a book lover, has a huge collection of books by his favorite writers. He is an analytical reader who enjoys reading each line thoroughly. He has developed a sense of belongingness with his books and could never think about parting with any of them..
A classical music and dance lover
Neupane highly admires classical dance and Nepali music. Although, he likes listening to a host of different Nepali artistes, he favors music by Narayan Gopal.
A travel writer
Having visited 25 districts of Nepal and also having visited many countries, Neupane believes that experiences accumulated through travelling plays an important role during the writing process. Prior to writing books, he embarks on a journey using personal narratives of the people he meets to add flair to his writings.
Keen on psychoanalytical reading
Reading is part of Neupane’s daily routine, be it outdoors or indoors. Psychoanalytical pieces seem to interest him the most. Of all writers, Neupane prefers reading the works of Bisheshwor Prasad Koirala and Diamond Shumsher the most.