SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

The Gurkha's Daughter: Stories

Prajwal Parajuly

Prajwal Parajuly’s debut book, The Gurkha's Daughter: Stories, published by Quercus, has received rave reviews and now hits the stands in the UK after being on bestseller lists in South Asia.

A drinks reception, sponsored by Quercus Books, will follow the discussion.

The collection chronicles the lives of Nepali-speaking people around the world in eight short stories. A disfigured servant girl plans to flee Nepal; a Kalimpong shopkeeper faces an impossible dilemma; a Hindu religious festival in Darjeeling brings with it a sacrifice; a Nepali-Bhutanese refugee pins her hopes on the West; a Gurkha's daughter tries to comprehend her father's complaints; two young Nepali-speaking immigrants meet in Manhattan. These are just some of the stories describing and dramatizing the experiences of the Nepalese people and the Nepalese diaspora - the people whose culture and language is Nepalese but who are dispersed to India, Bhutan and beyond. From every perspective and on every page, Prajwal Parajuly blends rich colour and vernacular to paint an eye-opening picture of a unique world and its people.

Author’s Biography

From Gangtok, Sikkim in India, Prajwal is the son of an Indian father and a Nepalese mother. Before starting a degree at Oxford, he was an advertising executive at “The Village Voice” in New York. Parts of the collection were written when Prajwal was a writer-in-residence at Truman State University in America.

Quercus Books - The Gurkha's Daughter