NH Humanities Council celebrates publication of English-Nepali picture book with a public Folktale Festival on August 17

MANCHESTER - Join the NH Humanities Council to celebrate the launch of a newly-published Nepali-English picture book at a Folktale Festival on

Friday, August 17 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the William B. Cashin Senior Activity Center at 151 Douglas Street in Manchester. The Festival is free and open to all, however space is limited and reservations are suggested. Register on the Humanities Council’s website at www.nhhc.org.

Enjoy food, music, crafts and storytelling of folktales from many cultures to celebrate the publication of The Story of a Pumpkin, a beautiful picture book in Nepali and English created by the Humanities Council’s Connections adult literacy program in collaboration with the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire and many adult ESOL classes. The August 17 Folktale Festival will include storyteller Becky Rule sharing New Hampshire tales. Portions of Becky’s stories will be translated into Nepali. In addition, Carolyn Parrott will lead a dancing session, a troupe of dancers will demonstrate traditional Nepali dance, and Jo Radner and Hari Tiwari will tell the tale featured in the book. The event will also include a Story Booth where participants can tell a story with a family member, ideally of a different generation.

The Humanities Council worked in collaboration with the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire and new refugees from Bhutan in Lutheran Social Services English classes to find and develop the folktale shared in The Story of a Pumpkin. Connections Program Director Terry Farish recorded more than a dozen oral tales and chose The Story of a Pumpkin shared by Hari Tiwari to develop into a picture book. Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord designed each page on a background of handmade paper from Bhutan with borders of scanned fabrics brought by Bhutanese families to the United States. Artist Dal Rai and other members of the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire drew illustrations for the tale. Included in the book is an introduction by Tika Acharya, Executive director of the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire, an essay by Project Folklorist Jo Rader, and a historical note on the complex path that led recent Bhutani immigrants from their homes in Bhutan to refugee camps in Nepal to escape persecution, to a new life in America.

Radner wrote, “We hope that readers will enjoy The Story of a Pumpkin as a delightful, personally meaningful tale, and will also find this book a generous invitation to discover the world from which our Bhutanese Nepali neighbors come. May we all respect and cherish the many cultures that touch our lives. May we gather riches by listening deeply.”

The Story of a Pumpkin will be available for purchase at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. For more information contact the Humanities Council at 224-4071.