La.Lit, the literary magazine from Nepal, is partnering with writer Samrat Upadhyay to organize the fourth edition of Writing Nepal: A Short Story Contest. The contest has been set up to encourage new writing in English from Nepal. The deadline for all submissions to the contest is October 15, 2019. This year, interested participants can sign up for an optional writing workshop on the fundamentals of storytelling. Samrat Upadhyay will be the sole judge of the contest. A shortlist will be announced in November and the award ceremony will be held in December, 2019 in Kathmandu. All submissions will be considered for publication in La.Lit. Writing Nepal 2019 is supported by Indiana University and Malpi International College

Submission guidelines:

• Only one submission per participant is allowed.
• Submissions must be unpublished.
• Submissions should be between 2000 to 5000 words.
• All submissions should be in .rtf, .doc, .docx or .odt format and should be typed and double-spaced.
• Include a separate cover sheet file with your name and contact information. Your name must not appear in the file with the submission, as all submissions will be judged blind.
• Participation is limited to writers of Nepali origin.
• All previous Writing Nepal participants, with the exception of the 1st place winners, are eligible for the 2019 contest.
• A shortlist will be announced in November and the award ceremony will be held in December, 2019 in Kathmandu.
• Participants will be considered for publication in La.Lit.

All submissions should be sent to editor@lalitmag.com.

Writing Workshops

As part of Writing Nepal 2019, a writing workshop hosted by La.Lit editors is being organized to cover and explore the fundamentals of storytelling. Those attending the workshop are expected to gain a better understanding of four key elements of fiction: character, voice, setting and plot. Workshops will be held at Malpi International College, Gairidhara, Kathmandu. All participants have to sign up in advance and will have to pay a one-time Rs. 500.00 participation fee. Sign up here.

The workshops will be facilitated by Prawin Adhikari. He is an assistant editor at La.Lit and the author of The Vanishing Act and Folk Gods. He has translated Amod Bhattarai’s Chapters, Indra Bahadur Rai’s Long Night of Storm, and Suvash Darnal’s A Land of Our Own.

Workshop schedule and topic focus:
Setting and Plot on July 21, 2019
Character and Voice on July 28, 2019

Please apply by July 18, 2019 so that we can adequately prepare for the workshop based on the number of sign-ups. Participants will be informed of workshop timings after they have signed up. Sign up for the workshop here: facebook.com/lalitmag

Submission Deadline:
October 15, 2019

Prizes:
First Prize: Rs. 15,000
Second Prize: Rs. 8,000
Third Prize: Rs. 5,000

Submit to:
editor@lalitmag.com 

More details:

La.Lit (www.lalitmag.com) is a literary magazine that celebrates the beauty of writing. It features original and translated fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; photography and graphic art; and exclusive interviews and news from the world of literature. We aim to bring contemporary achievements in world literature to Nepal and, equally, take Nepali and South Asian literature to the world.

Samrat Upadhyay is the first Nepali-born fiction writer to be published in the United States. His debut short story collection Arresting God in Kathmandu was the winner of the 2001 Whiting Writers’ Award and his second short story collection, The Royal Ghosts, won the 2007 Asian American Literary Award. His first novel, The Guru of Love, was a New York Times Notable Book while his second novel, Buddha’s Orphans, was longlisted for the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. His 2014 novel, The City Son, has been longlisted for PEN Open Book award. He is the Martha C. Kraft Professor of Humanities at Indiana University, where he teaches in its MFA program (http://iub.edu/~mfawrite/about/).