Lainsingh Bangdel Arts Academy, Kolkata has decided to present this year’s Lainsingh Bangdel Memorial Award to litterateur Jhamak Ghimire. The Academy announced the decision at an event recently held at Kolkata, India.

Born to a poor farming family in Dhankuta, differently-abled 35-year-old Ghimire has already published more than a dozen books including Jeevan Kanda Ki Phool, Sankalpa (Vow), Afnai Chitaa Agnishikhatir (One’s funeral pyre towards the fire apex), Manchhe Bhitraka Yoddaharu (The Warriors within Humans), Quaati, and Be Mausam Ka Aastha Haru; and has to her credit more than five dozen awards for her literary achievements. She has also received the prestigious Madan Puraskar for her autobiography Jeevan Kanda Ki Phool (2011).

The award will be presented to Ghimire at an event scheduled to be held in January in Dhankuta.

Lainsingh Bangdel Shahitya/Kala Pratishthan, a non-profit literary organisation, was established on 2013 in Kolkata as a tribute to the contributions made by the late Lainsingh Bangdel in the field of Nepali literature. The Academy has been actively working to promote Nepali literature, culture and arts. Furthermore, the Academy has also revived the publication of Prabhat, a literary magazine Bangdel set up in 1950s in Kolkata. The Academy has been publishing the tri-monthly magazine since 2013.

The first edition of the award was handed to the Indo-Nepali litterateur Raj Narayan Pradhan in 2014.