Pokhara: The eighth edition of the IME Nepal Literature Festival is scheduled to take place on December 13-16 in Barahi Lakeside in Pokhara.

The information was shared at a press conference organised jointly by the organisers, Bookworm Foundation and Random Readers Society here on Tuesday.

On the occasion, the foundation’s director Ajit Baral said unlike in previous episodes, new speakers would be given a chance in response to complaints that familiar faces repeated every year. More than 110 speakers including over a dozen foreign writers are expected to participate in the festival having more than 40 sessions.

Participation of foreign writers is expected to boost Nepali literature sector, said Baral. The festival’s four editions were organised consecutively in Kathmandu beginning one edition, and the rest in Pokhara.

Pokhara was picked for the festival in a bid to promote literary tourism, said Baral, adding that the 2015 earthquake also forced them to shift the venue for the festival.

The society’s President Keshab Sharan Lamichhane claimed that the festival had helped explore Pokharali literature. On the occasion of the festival, the DSC Award for South Asian Literature will be presented.

The award carrying a purse of 25000 USD is an international literary prize given annually to writers of any ethnicity or nationality writing on South Asian themes such as politics, culture, history and people.