Suman Pokhrel is a celebrated poet and a prominent lyricist, playwright, translator, artist, and creative director from Nepal. In addition to his extensive literary accomplishments, he has held diverse professional roles in government, development organizations, and education, which have enriched his multidisciplinary contributions to art and society. He is recognized as a significant figure in contemporary South Asian literature, whose work extends beyond poetry to include theatre, translation, and music. His artistic achievements have been acknowledged with several prestigious accolades, such as the Asia's Inspiring Poet Award in 2023 and the SAARC Literary Award, received twice-in 2013 and 2015.
Born as the first child to engineer Mukunda Prasad Pokhrel and Bhakta Devi Pokhrel (Rijal), a government employee, Suman Pokhrel comes from a family with a distinguished historical and political legacy. His paternal grandfather, Bidhyanath Pokhrel, was a noted poet and politician, while his maternal grandfather, Ganeshprasad Rijal, served in Nepal's first parliament and was later exiled due to political unrest. Both grandfathers studied together in Varanasi in the 1930s, establishing a foundation of intellectual and political engagement within the family.
Pokhrel attended a government-owned kindergarten in Biratnagar and spent his early years there before moving to his ancestral village of Kachide in Dhankuta, where he was raised by his paternal grandmother. His grandfather's extensive library exposed him early to literature in Nepali, Hindi, and Sanskrit. He returned to Biratnagar at the age of twelve to live with his parents, both of whom had a strong literary orientation. His father, an engineer with a passion for art and literature, and his mother, a devoted reader of multiple languages, played formative roles in his development.
His academic background is diverse and multidisciplinary. In 1992, he completed a Bachelor of Science in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics from Mahendra Morang Adarsha Multiple Campus, affiliated with Tribhuvan University. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in Economics (1993-1994) from the Post Graduate Campus in Biratnagar. In 1996, he completed both a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on accounting and management, and a Bachelor of Law (BL) as a private student, with an emphasis on international, constitutional, and criminal law.
Suman Pokhrel has made substantial literary contributions. He published his first poetry collection, Shoonya Mutuko Dhadkanbhitra, in 1999, followed by Hazaar Aankhaa Yee Aankhaa Maa in 2003 and Jeevanko Chheubaata in 2009. His poem and song recordings have been performed by various artists, reflecting his influence on contemporary Nepali music and poetry. He recorded Taj Mahal and My Love (2010), a poem from his second collection of poetry. Later he recorded Na Ta Din Bhayo (2013), Pagliyera Pokhiyun Jhain (2015), Dharti Aakash Bhanda Para (2015), Kati Mitha (2019), and several other songs in his lyrics in vocal of various singers and music composition of Bed Nidhi Poudel.
In 2016, his play Yajnaseni, based on the Mahabharata, premiered in Dallas, USA. His work continued with lyrical contributions and direction of creative projects. The Unheard Plea (2019) in his lyrics, and music composition and vocal of Sudha Raghuraman was first performed by Neha Mondal Chakravarty in New York in 2018, which was recorded a year later. He directed the series Kavyaarohan (2019) from 2019 to 2022.
Suman Pokhrel's poetry has found readership and recognition beyond national boundaries. His work is included in the curricula of Tribhuvan University and Purbanchal University in Nepal, as well as the University of Kerala, GD Goenka University, and Cauvery College for Women in India.
Translated into more than a dozen languages, his poems have been featured in various international journals and anthologies, reaching a broad and diverse audience. In some cases, individuals have chosen to tattoo lines from his poetry, reflecting a deep personal resonance with his work. His verses are frequently cited and quoted by people from different backgrounds in academic papers, newspaper articles, research publications, and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).
Due to the wide reach and appeal of his poetry, Suman Pokhrel is often referred to as a "Universal Poet," or "International Poet" or "Global Poet".
As a translator, Pokhrel has translated works of translated works of several writers and poets from around the world into languages like English, Nepali, Hindi and Urdu. He has translated William Shakespeare's play The Tempest into Nepali as Aandhibehari which was published by Nepal Academy in 2018. He has translated the poetry of Anna Akhmatova, Anna Swirszczynska, Allen Ginsberg, Delmira Agustini, Forugh Farrokhzad, Gabriela Mistral, Jacques Prévert, Mahmoud Darwich, Nazik Al Malaika, Nazim Hikmet, Nizar Qabbani, Octavio Paz, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, Yehuda Amichai and Sylvia Plath into Nepali, which are collected in the anthology Manpareka Kehi Kavita. His translations of fifty-one Kannada poets, including Kuvempu, P. Lankesh and U. R. Ananthamurthy, are compiled in the anthology Shashwat Awaj. Additionally, he has translated works by various other prominent poets and writers like Gulzar, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Maya Angelou, Sahir Ludhianvi, Uday Prakash, Sheema Kalbasi, Kalpna Singh-Chitnis and Hélène Cardona into Nepali, as well as works of Nepali-language poets and writers like Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Bhupi Sherchan, Ishwar Ballav, Abhi Subedi, Geeta Tripathee and Sanu Sharma among others into English, Hindi, and Urdu, and has get them published from various locations.
Suman Pokhrel has been involved in a range of literary events at both national and international levels, where he has presented his poetry and contributed to discussions on literary topics. He took part in the SAARC Festivals of Literature in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015, and recited his work at the SAARC Charter Day Celebrations held in New Delhi in 2013. In October 2014, he attended the SAARC Sufi Festival in Jaipur, India, as a delegate from Nepal. In March 2015, he gave a poetry recital at the 'Mukta Anubhuti' program organized by Shilpee Theatre in Kathmandu.
In February 2016, he was invited to the All India Poets' Meet in Konark, India, as a guest poet from abroad. He also joined the South Asian Literature Festival in New Delhi on February 16 and 24, 2017, representing Nepal. In April 2017, he performed at the 'We: Poet and Poetry' program hosted by Sarwanam Theatre in Kathmandu.
He represented Nepal at the First Forum of Asian Countries' Writers in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, in 2019 and later appeared at the Vishwa Rang literary event in Bhopal, India. In 2022, he performed a solo poetry recital in Episode 8 of Season 1 of Kavyaarohan, a poetry recital series he directed, aired on February 19. Later that year, on October 23, he presented his poetry at a solo recital in Biratnagar, organized by the Devkota Library to mark the 114th birth anniversary of Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota.
In 2023, he contributed to several regional festivals, including the Kokrajhar Literature Festival in Assam, the Shaluk International Literature Festival in Dhaka, and the BIMSTEC Literature Festival in New Delhi. In December 2024, he joined the International Literary Forum in Moscow, representing South and Southeast Asia and sharing his views in a session on 21st-century poetry.
On December 7, 2024, he was featured at the Russian State Library in Moscow as part of its Foreign Writers and Translators Series. The event involved discussions on Nepali literature, the readership of Russian literature in Nepal, translation practices, and his approach to writing. The session also included reflections on his broader literary contributions.
Alongside his literary career, Suman Pokhrel has held diverse professional roles - as a government employee, team member in international and national non-governmental organizations, contributor to the theater sector, and founder of his own business firm. He has also worked extensively as a freelance consultant, contributing to a wide range of fields including community development, capacity building, and advocacy in addition to creativity.
Suman Pokhrel began his professional journey as a Section Officer at Koshi Zonal Hospital. He later transitioned to the development sector, joining Plan International Nepal, where he managed integrated programs in health, education, nutrition, and micro-finance across various districts. In his role as Institutional Learning and Documentation Officer, he contributed to organizational learning and supported gender integration and child-centered community development.
In 2007, he joined the Center for Social Mobilization (CENSOM) as a Program Coordinator, where he led community development initiatives and promoted inter-agency coordination. By 2008, he became Managing Director of the Institution Promotion and Resource Center, conducting training and workshops focused on community development.
Since 2010, Pokhrel has been working as an independent consultant, providing expertise in training, research, facilitation, and translation. His consulting engagements have included the translation of legal, educational, and technical documents, along with capacity-building training in areas such as accounting, taxation, business planning, agricultural enterprise formalization, and child rights. He has led several baseline surveys and situation assessments in Sunsari (2013), Jumla (2017-2018), and Dhanusha (2021-2022), and has facilitated a wide range of training sessions and workshops across the country. His training repertoire also includes creative writing and other programs related to literature, art, and theater.
Suman Pokhrel has received multiple accolades, including the 'Asia's Inspiring Poet Award' from Asia Award and the 'Shaluk International Literature Award' from Shaluk Literary Magazine in Dhaka, Bangladesh, both in 2023. In the same year, he was also honored as the 'Poet of The Month' by Spillwords Press in New York, USA. He had been bestowed with the SAARC Literary Award, a prestigious recognition in the realm of art, literature, and culture in South Asia, in 2013. His exceptional achievement was further underscored when he received the same award for a second time in 2015, making him the sole individual to achieve this distinction twice.
