By Our Reporter
Noted writer, essayist and literary critic Tara Nath Sharma died on Tuesday at the age of 87.
Popularly known as Tana Sharma, passed away peacefully at his residence. He was suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and dementia.
Born in June 1934 (Asar 9, 1991 BS) at Barbote in Ilam to Prajapati Upadhyay, the outspoken writer had completed his schooling from St. Joseph’s School, Darjeeling, India and got his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.
Sharma is known especially for his travel writings. His travelogue ‘Belayat Tira Baralida’ had won him the prestigious Madan Puraskar for the year 1969. He had also received the Sajha Award of 1972 for his critique ‘Sama Ra Samaka Kriti’ which is included in the Masters-level syllabus of Banaras Hindu University and the Aadikabi Bhanubhakta Award of 2013.
Sharma is also credited with initiating the ‘Jharro Nepali’ literary movement and gained prominence right from the first work ‘Ojhel Parda’ (1966), which he wrote from jail while he was imprisoned for criticising a poem written by King Mahendra.
Author of scores of Nepali and English-language books, Sharma also served as the editor-in-chief of The Rising Nepal, the official English Daily, for two years from November 1992.
His body was cremated at the Pashupati Aryaghat in the afternoon in the presence of family members, literary personalities and Nepal Academy officials on Tuesday itself.
Sharma is survived by his wife and two sons.
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