Sujan Dahal

Sujan Dahalसुजन दाहाल

Nepali novelist. आश्रय (Aashraya) is his first book — a narrow room in Kathmandu, five years, two countries, and a question he didn't yet know how to ask.

घर खोज्ने यात्राभन्दा कठिन हुन्छ आफूलाई खोज्ने यात्रा।

Harder than the journey to find a home is the journey to find yourself.

Cover of आश्रय (Aashraya) by Sujan Dahal — a lone figure beneath an old tree, gold Devanagari title

पूर्वकथा — the opening pages

२०२६, जुन। राति दुई बजे। फोन बज्यो। स्क्रिन उज्यालियो। त्यही स्क्रिन — जुन पाँच वर्षअघि एउटा साँझ “Yes, of course…” लेखिएर उज्यालिएको थियो। आज त्यसमा एउटा तस्बिर थियो। दुलही उनी थिइन्। दुलहा… म थिइनँ। रिस आएन। आँसु आएन। आवाज आएन। केवल एउटा अनौठो शून्यता। आश्रय — पूर्वकथा

Two in the morning, June 2026. The screen lights up. In the photograph she is the bride, and the groom is someone else. No anger comes. No tears. No sound. Only an emptiness he has never met before.

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The novel

आश्रय

मानिस जीवनभर कुनै न कुनै आश्रयको खोजीमा हुन्छ। कसैले घरमा आश्रय खोज्छ, कसैले सम्बन्धमा, कसैले सफलतामा, कसैले ईश्वरमा, अनि कसैले आफ्नै एकान्तमा। तर समयसँगै थाहा हुन्छ — बाहिर खोजिएको प्रत्येक आश्रय एक दिन भत्किन सक्छ।

Aashraya means shelter. The novel runs from a message sent on 20 June 2021 to a wedding photograph five years later — Kathmandu to Kyoto, twenty-seven chapters in four parts. It is drawn from the author's own life; some names and details have been changed.

Not only a love story. It is about belief, separation, memory, loneliness, and giving words to the feelings people carry without ever saying them aloud.

Publication details
LanguageNepali
EditionFirst, २०८३ (2026) — at press
PublisherSmart Access Network Business Enterprises, Chandrapur-4, Rautahat
Pages290
ISBN978-9905-00-803-8
आश्रय (Aashraya) by Sujan Dahal, first edition 2026, ISBN 978-9905-00-803-8

Where the royalties go

Every rupee this book earns pays a school fee

यो पुस्तकको बिक्रीबाट लेखकलाई प्राप्त हुने सम्पूर्ण रोयल्टी आर्थिक कारणले पढाइ छुट्ने अवस्थामा पुगेका विद्यार्थीहरूको छात्रवृत्तिमा खर्च गरिनेछ।

Not a share of the royalties. All of them, to scholarships for students who have had to stop studying because of money.

यदि यो पुस्तकले कसैलाई आफ्नो आश्रय खोज्न मद्दत गर्‍यो भने, त्यसले अर्को बालकलाई आफ्नो भविष्य खोज्न पनि मद्दत गरोस्।
Sujan Dahal, Nepali author of आश्रय, photographed at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, Japan

About the author

Sujan Dahal

नेपालमा जन्मिएका सुजन दाहाल जापानमा उच्च शिक्षा अध्ययन गरेका छन्। भाषा, यात्रा, सङ्गीत र दर्शनप्रति रुचि राख्ने उनी प्रेम, एकान्त, स्मृति र आत्म-अन्वेषणका कथाहरू लेख्छन्। ‘आश्रय’ उनको पहिलो उपन्यास हो।

Born in Nepal, he went to Japan for graduate study and took a master's in Web Business Technology at the Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics. Born in Chandrapur, Rautahat, he worked there translating between international sponsors and the families they funded.

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Sujan Dahal, web system developer, working in Japan

Beyond the writing

I build web systems too

Master's in Web Business Technology from the Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics, and years of translation and community work in Rautahat before that. Available for web development, UI design and Nepali–English translation.

  • Web development
  • UI/UX design
  • Translation
  • Data analysis

See the portfolio

Contact

Review copies, interviews, events

Journalists, booksellers and readers are all welcome to write. I answer everything, sometimes slowly.

contact@sujandahal.name.np