Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma (Nepali:युयुत्सु शर्मा; born January 5, 1960) is aNepalese-Indian poet and journalist. He was born atNakodar,Punjab and moved toNepal at an early age. He writes in English andNepali.[1][2]
Sharma received his early education first at DAV College, Nakodar, Punjab, and later at Baring Union Christian College,Batala andUniversity of Rajasthan. While at Rajasthan, Sharma met American poetDavid Ray while assisting Ray on an issue ofNew Letters. Ray introduced Sharma to the work of prominent American poets such asWilliam Carlos Williams andAllen Ginsberg, and encouraged Sharma to publish his own work. Sharma has called meeting Ray a "watershed" moment in his life.[3]
Yuyutsu remained active in the literary circles of Rajasthan and acted in plays by Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Harold Pinter, and Edward Albee. Later he taught at various campuses ofPunjab University, Chandigarh andTribhuwan University,Kathmandu.
He met German Photographer Andreas Stimm in 2004 and his collaboration with Stimm resulted in three books of picture/poetry:Nepal Trilogy:Photographs and Poetry on Annapurna, Everest, Helambu & Langtang.[4]
In 2006, he publishedThe Lake Fewa and a Horse[5] and later in 2008,Annapurna Poems, Selected and New.[6] According to a review ofAnnapurna Poems by critic Jim Feast, Sharma operates "at the edge of a belief system or way of living that has fallen short", a position from which great poetry emerges according to essayist and American poet laureateAllen Tate.[7]
His 2009 poetry collectionSpace Cake features artwork by Henry Avignon. Reminiscent of traditions inbeat poetry, it chronicles his travels in Europe and America, including an episode in Amsterdam where he accidentally consumes acannabis edible, from which the collection gets its title.[3]
In 2016 he publishedQuaking Cantos, a collection inspired by the2015 Nepal earthquakes featuring Sharma's poetry and photographs by Prasant Shrestha.[8] In theKathmandu Tribune, Arun Budhathoki wrote that it "immortalized the tragic event and captured the bitter memories of the Himalayan on a grand scale".[9] Andrea Dawn Bryant called it "stunningly heart-wrenching, albeit healing".[8]
In 2020 he publishedPanaharu Khali Chhan, a collection of poems inNepali, many translated from English. Critic Bibek Adhikari wrote that "reading Sharma in English is a delightful experience; reading him in Nepali, a somewhat bewildering and disconcerting one".[10]
Sharma is the editor ofPratik,A Quarterly Magazine of Contemporary Writing.[3] As of 2020 he was a visiting poet atColumbia University.[11] He is the recipient of fellowships and grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, Ireland Literature Exchange, Trubar Foundation, Slovenia, The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature and The Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature.[12]
The Alchemy of Nine Smiles: Nine Long Poems, Red River, New Delhi, 2024
Lost Horoscope: New Poems, Nirala, New Delhi, 2023
The Second Buddha Walk: Inspired by the Second Buddha: Master of Time Exhibit at Rubin Museum, New York, Nirala, New Delhi, 2018
Quaking Cantos: Nepal Earthquake Poems, Nirala, New Delhi, 2016
A Blizzard in my Bones: New York Poems, Nirala, New Delhi, 2016
Nine New York Poems: A Prelude to‘A Blizzard in my Bones: New York Poems’, Nirala, New Delhi, 2014
Milarepa's Bones, Helambu:33 New Poems, Nirala, New Delhi, 2012
The Nepal Trilogy I-III Photographs and Poetry about the Nepal areas of Annapurna, Everest, Helambu & Langtang, www.Nepal-Trilogy.de,·www.Nepal-Trilogie.de) (english-deutsch, Epsilonmedia,Karlsruhe Germany, 2010
www.AroundAnnapurna.de: A photographic and Poetic Journey around Annapurnas, Nepal, Epsilonmedia,Karlsruhe Germany
www.WayToEverest.de:A photographic and Poetic Journey to the Foot of Everest, Epsilonmedia,Karlsruhe Germany, 2006
Annapurna Poems, Nirala, New Delhi, 2008
Everest Failures, White Lotus Book Shop, Kathmandu 2008
Space Cake Amsterdam and other Poems from Europe and America, Howling Dog Press, Colorado, 2009
The Lake Fewa and a Horse, Poems New, Nirala, New Delhi, 2005, 2009
Poèmes de l'Himalaya, trans. by Nicole Barrière and Camille Bloomfield, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2009
Poemas De Los Himalayas: Bilingual Spanish/English Poetry Collection, Translated into Spanish with an Introduction by Veronica Aranda, 2010, Cosmopoeticia, Cordoba, Spain
Some Female Yeti & other Poems, Nirala, New Delhi, 1995
Hunger of our Huddled Huts & other Poems, Nirala, New Delhi, 1989, 2011
A Prayer in Daylight, Poems, Nirala, Jaipur, 1984
IN TRANSLATION
Poemas De Los Himalayas: Bilingual Spanish/English Poetry Collection, Translated into Spanish with an Introduction by Veronica Aranda, 2010, Cosmopoeticia, Cordoba, Spain
Poèmes de l'Himalaya, trans. by Nicole Barrière and Camille Bloomfield, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2009
Jezero Fewa & Konj Translated from the Slovene by Evald Flisar, Sodobnost International, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2008
Pret Re Seni Spevi: Pesmi iz potresnega Nepala, Translated from the Slovene by Barbara Pogačnik, Sodobnost International, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2018
Dying in Rajasthan, 1985, Short Stories by Ramanand Rathi, (Translated from the Hindi), Nirala, New Delhi
Folk Tales of Sherpa & Yeti, 2008, Shiva Dhakal (Translated from the Nepali), Nirala, New Delhi
Roaring Recitals: Five Nepali Poets, (Gopal Prasad Rimal, Bhupi Sherchan & Others) (Translated from the Nepali), Nirala, New Delhi
Kathmandu: Poems Selected and New (An English/Nepali Bilingual Edition), Cathal O’ Searcaigh, Translated from the Gaelic by Seamus Heaney, John Montague, and others; Translated into the Nepali, Nirala, New Delhi
Baghdad, February 1991, A Bilingual Nepali /English Edition, Ronny Someck, Translated into Nepali by Yuyutsu RD Sharma, Nirala Publications, New Delhi, 2010
Mother’s Hand: Selected Poems — A Bilingual English/Nepali Anthology by Jidi Majai, Translated into Nepali by Yuyutsu RD Sharma, Nirala Publications, New Delhi, 2020
I Choose to Cry and Love you, Poems by Yang Qingxiang, Translated into Nepali by Yuyutsu Sharma, White Lotus Book Shop/ Renmin University, 2022
Ek Asadharan Antarvarta An Extraordinary Interview), Stories by Lao Ma, Translated into Nepali by Yuyutsu Sharma, White Lotus Book Shop, Kathmandu/ Renmin University, Beijing University, 2021
