Author Kumar Nagarkoti’s latest book, Docha, was launched amid a function held at the Crown Banquet in Minbhawan in Kathmandu. The book was unveiled jointly by Rabi Malla and Akshay Adhikari, friends of the author. The event also saw a musical performance by Ankit Babu Adhikari, who offered renditions of his composition of some of Nagarkoti’s poems and songs. 

The event saw a host of noted figures from the Nepali literary sphere including authors Kishore Nepal, Narayan Dhakal, Viplov Pratik, and critic Shekhar Kharel, among others.

Speaking at the event, critic Kharel said that the book is about relationships—“Nagarkoti’s relationship with people we have all known of and even his relationship with objects.” 

“As is well known, the highlight of his writing is narration. He doesn’t employ a third person narrative, he doesn’t even employ a single narrator narrating the story throughout. His stories are sometimes narrated by birds, and even by inanimate objects. Which give the plot an eccentric quality,” Kharel said, adding, “Reading Nagarkoti is solely about pleasure in reading, it provides a kind of ecstasy. The way with which he narrates a seemingly unimportant event from his life inspires one to write one’s too, like it did to me.” 

Kumar Nagarkoti has created a niche for himself in the Nepali literary landscape with his eccentric stories, unconventional plots and remarkably different style of storytelling, which have attracted acclaim and derision alike—with some hailing his complex and non-linear plotlines as a breakthrough for Nepali literature, while others deriding the works for their mix of English and other languages. 

A trailblazer in his own rights, Nagarkoti, speaking about his experimental strain of literature, has previously said, “I do love experimenting while writing, for I feel life itself is an experiment. But it doesn’t mean that I have consciously crafted a writing style that people have come to identify me with. Deep down, I just feel that I want to go with the flow, just like a river, without caring whether I end up in a desert or an ocean. I don’t want to follow anything—rather, I want to flow and make my own way.” 

Prior to Docha, Nagarkoti has published books such as Fossil (2013), a collection of short stories; Coma; Makshyanta: Kathmandu Fever; Aksharganj; Mystica; and Ghatmandu.

Docha is published by BookHill Publications.