Interview With Satis Shroff, Neruda Award 2017
When did you first start writing? I really started writing when I went to Kathmandu to do my BSc in Zoology and Botany. I used to write articles and stories in The Rising Nepal, an Engish daily. The day Satchmo died I had the urge to write something about this great trumpet player. After college I joined the newspaper and wrote a science column of my own (mostly conservation of wildlife in Nepal) and about cultural events, now and then about a yeti-expedition or about glaciers in the Himalayas. What’s the story behind your latest book? It’s a memoir about a young writer who goes west to study, meets interesting people, travels to fascinating countries, tries out different cuisine and gets to know about the Germanfolk as a student, as a lecturer, singer in a men’s choire. He also visits his former home-country and is interested in the literature of the two countries, as well as English literature. Nepal’s lingua franca is Nepali but since his parents sent him to an Irish