{{Short description|Nepalese writer and folklorist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}} thumb|200px|Kesar Lall thumb|200px|Lall's first book published in 1961 '''Kesar Lall''' ({{langx|ne|केसर लाल}}; 15 July 1926 – 26 December 2012) (alternative name: '''Kesar Lall Shrestha''') was a Nepalese folklorist and writer. He has published more than 50 books of stories and poetry. He wrote in Nepali, Nepal Bhasa and English.<ref>{{cite news |title=Remembering Kesar Lall |author= Mark Turin|url=http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19939#.UdqmX9j9LK4 |newspaper=Nepali Times |date=11 January 2013 |accessdate=8 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Kesar Lall: A Homage on the occasion of his Buraa Janko |url=http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/projectteam/turin/downloads/Kesar_Lall.pdf |accessdate=8 July 2013 |year=2004 |publisher= Marina Paper |location= Kathmandu|isbn=99933-890-7-2 }}</ref>
==Early life==
Kesar Lall was born in Kathmandu to father Jagat Lal and mother Bal Kumari Shrestha. His father ran a school at his home in Māsan Galli (मासं गल्लि), and was popularly known as Jagat Lal Master. This was one of the few places that provided a modern education in Nepal in those days as the Rana government discouraged the establishment of schools.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://countrystudies.us/nepal/34.htm |title= Education under Rana Rule |year=1991 |editor-last= Savada |editor-first= Andrea Matles | website= Nepal: A Country Study |publisher= U.S. Library of Congress | accessdate=13 July 2013}}</ref> Kesar Lall received no formal schooling. He learnt English from his father and taught himself to write composition by studying varied text books.{{fact|date=August 2025}}
==Writing career==
Kesar Lall began his writing career in 1945 by writing articles in English for Indian magazines. In 1953, he published his first story entitled ''Bhutucha'' ("Short girl") in Nepal Bhasa in ''Nepal'' magazine.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bajracharya |first= Phanindra Ratna |title= Who's Who in Nepal Bhasha |year=2003 |publisher= Nepal Bhasa Academy |location= Kathmandu |isbn=99933-560-0-X |page=74}}</ref> He published his first book of folk tales entitled ''Lore and Legend of Nepal'' in English in 1961.<ref>{{cite news|title=Legends of Kathmandu |url=http://www.ecs.com.np/living_category.php?category=12&id=134 |newspaper=ECS Nepal |date=April 2008 |accessdate=13 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218160243/http://www.ecs.com.np/living_category.php?category=12&id=134 |archive-date=18 December 2011 }}</ref> Other books written by Lall are:
* ''Folk Tales From Nepal - Myths and Legends'' * ''Folk Tales from Nepal - The Stolen Image and Other Stories'' * ''Lore and Legend of the Yeti'' * ''The Seven Sisters and Other Nepalese Tales'' * ''Folk Tales from Nepal: The Origin of Alcohol & Other Stories'' * ''Nepalese Customs and Manners''
Kesar Lall is best known as a storyteller who exposed Nepal's folklore to the world by collecting, translating and publishing tales told in various Nepalese communities. He traveled across the country, listening to stories and taking down notes in longhand later at home because he said people were shy speaking in front of a tape recorder. He was also a poet and his poetry has been described as being simple and poignant.<ref>{{cite news |title=The self-taught storyteller |url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/01/14/features/the-self-taught-storyteller/217250/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130713072052/http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/01/14/features/the-self-taught-storyteller/217250/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 13, 2013 |newspaper=The Kathmandu Post |date=15 January 2011 |accessdate=8 July 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Kansakar|first=Tej Ratna |year=2013 |title= Obituary: Kesar Lall Shrestha |journal= Matina |volume=7 |issue=16 |pages=16–17 |publisher=Amrita Shrestha, London }}</ref>
While continuing to write, Kesar Lall pursued various jobs. In 1951, following the overthrow of the Rana regime and the installation of a new government, Kesar Lall secured a position as assistant private secretary to Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala. He also worked for BP Koirala when he was home minister. Kesar Lall joined the US Embassy in Kathmandu in the late 1950s as advisor and translator where he remained until his retirement in 1985.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Piece of Charcoal and the Makings of a Poet: Kesar Lall |author=Don Messerschmidt |url=http://www.ecs.com.np/feature_detail.php?f_id=53 |newspaper=ECS Nepal |date=June 2009 |accessdate=8 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218154633/http://www.ecs.com.np/feature_detail.php?f_id=53 |archive-date=18 December 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Ageless wonder: Kessar Lall's poems are as fresh as he is unpretentious |author= Mark Turin |url= http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12761 |newspaper=Nepali Times |date=10 November 2006 |accessdate=12 July 2013}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Nepalese writers|collapsed}} {{Nepali literature}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lall, Kesar}} Category:1926 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Writers from Kathmandu Category:Nepalese male poets Category:Newar-language writers Category:Nepali-language Nepalese writers Category:20th-century Nepalese poets Category:20th-century Nepalese male writers Category:Nepalese folklorists Category:Nepali-language poets