The book launch was followed by a recitation of poems in English, Nepali and Hebrew by contemporary poets like Manjul, Buddhisagar, Bhuwan Thapaliya, Shailendra Sakar and the ambassador himself. Sharma also recited the poems in English and Nepali. [break]
Speaking about Ronny Someck, who was born in Baghdad and whose family moved to Israel in his childhood, Sharma said, “It was a war-driven situation in Iraq
that drove him to write his poems.”
Sharma added that his motivation for the translation of the poems into Nepali was to introduce Nepali writers to a new way of writing in terms of lines, style, metaphors and content.
“Since the poems talk about the dualities of war and peace, love and lust, East and West, and captures moments of the ongoing series of conflicts and political turmoil in Israel, Nepali readers would find an immediate relevance post the similar situations that have taken place here,” he added.
Apart from successfully translating Hebrew poetry, Sharma also shared his difficulties while working on the translations. His translations of Someck were based on English translation by poets like Moshe Dor and Barbara Goldberg.
He said he had a lot of difficulty translating Somech; he does not write in rhymes and verses and there were long lines that often took strange turns. “So it was like solving some riddles,” he said.
Contemporary poets Manjul and Shailendra Sakar concluded the book launch with their comments.
“Translation is to change the beauty of one language into the beauty of another language,” Manju commented.
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