Nepal National Books Distributors and Publishers’ Association has picked journalist Janak Raj Sapkota’s book Kahar as the Book of the Year 2073 amid a function held in the Capital on Sunday.

Kahar is an anthology of nine reportages which the author penned travelling to several districts around the country, reaching out to individual and families affected by the mass exodus of youths seeking foreign employment. Bringing to light the plight of the families of Nepali migrants, Kahar, as one reviewer put it, “is a collection of deeply felt, meticulously researched, and agonising yet humane account of blood and tears, of individuals with dreams of more prosperous lives through migration. It details the innocence and fraud, hope and despair, and families broken and mourning with alarming frequency.”

Nepal’s publishing industry has traditionally given prominent space for works of fiction, poetry and biographies. But with new titles like Radha Paudel’s Madan Puraskar-winning memoir Khalanga ma Hamala, Mantha Darayeko Jug, by Mohan Mainali, and Registan Diary, by Devendra Bhattarai, grabbing the limelight in recent years, it goes on to show that well-researched nonfiction books, like Kahar, that delve into unexplored facets and layers of the Nepali society will not go overlooked.

Speaking to the Post, author Sapkota talked about the need to use literature in exploring the socio-political conditions of our still evolving republic.

“One might say a realistic work of fiction should give the audience a sense of socio-political condition of a country, and indeed, it does. But a novel might fall short on the authenticity. Kahar is, in the first place, a work of research; it was initially conceived as a research paper. But later I decided this is an issue that demands attention of not only a few academics or authorities involved, but also the general public.”

Sapkota went on, “Hence, to bring to the limelight this plight, I wrote this book as a work of literary journalism, for it seemed to be the best medium to tell the stories I wanted to tell.”

Sapkota also talked about the need to conduct more issue-based research and reporting in the country. “The concept of literary journalism is not new in Nepal.

Authors like Harka Gurung, Dor Bahadur Bista, and of late Jhalak Subedi and Mohan Mainali are inspiring. My work, however, is a bit issue-centric. I think we need more of this kind of reporting and I hope to see, and produce more, in the future.”