The First Nepali Dalit Writers

Name: The First Nepali Dalit Writers
Start: 2025-11-23T15:00:00+05:45
End: 2025-11-23T16:30:00+05:45
Location: Post Box 13470, 27 Jeet Jung Marg Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 44600

Schedule

Sun Nov 23 2025 at 03:00 pm to 04:30 pm

UTC+05:45

Location

Post Box 13470, 27 Jeet Jung Marg Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 44600 | Kathmandu, BA

Research Seminar Series
Title:
The First Nepali Dalit Writers
Speaker:
Michael Hutt, Emeritus Professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies, SOAS, University of London
Date, Time and Venue:
23 November 2025/७ मंसिर २०८२ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Martin Chautari Seminar Hall, Thapathali, Kathmandu
LIVE:
www.fb.com/martinchautari.f
www.youtube.com/mchautari
Abstract:
All published accounts of the emergence and development of Dalit Literature in the Nepali language present Jawahar Roka and TR Bishwakarma as its first writers. In my presentation I will explore the circumstances in which they were able to acquire this status; ask whether ‘Dalit Literature’ should be taken to begin only with the publication of conventional written texts; and consider the position of the Dalit intellectual under the early Panchayat regime.
About the Speaker:
Michael Hutt is an Emeritus Professor at SOAS, University of London, where he taught Nepali and Himalayan Studies from 1987 to 2020. His most recent books are the co-edited book Epicentre to Aftermath: Rebuilding and Remembering in the Wake of Nepal’s Earthquakes (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and his English translation of Buddhisagar’s novel Karnali Blues (Penguin Random House, 2021). He is currently working on a book-length study/anthology of Nepali Dalit literature, funded from 2025 to 2027 by a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. His personal research website is at https://michaelhutt.co.uk.