Born: 11 April 1946, India
Died: 24 May 2021
Country most active: Nepal
Also known as: वानीरा गिरि
Nepalese poet and novelist Banira Giri’s best-known works include novels like Karagar (1978), its sequel Nirbandha (1985) and Shabdatit Shantanu (1999) and poetry collections like Euta Jiundo Jung Bahadur (1974), Jiwan: Thayamaru (1977) and Kathmandu Kathmandu (2011). In 1999, she became the first woman to win the Sajha Puraskar, for Shabdatit Shantanu. Her other works include the 1984 memoir Mero Avishkar, essay collections Parbatko Arko Naam Parbati (2010) and Jungle Jungle (2012) and the 2014 travelogue Rokinele Aakar Dina Sakdaina.
In 1985, Giri became the first woman awarded a Ph.D. by Tribhuvan University. Previously, she had earned her Bachelor’s at North Bengal University and Master’s in Nepali literature from Tribhuvan University, having told King Mahendra of her desire to do so while receiving a medal for her performance in a poetry competition organized by the Royal Nepal Academy. She also taught at various institutions, including Tribhuvan University, and was the second poet after Laxmi Prasad Devkota to represent Nepal at the Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference, in 1975. Giri received the Suprabal-Gorkha-Dakshin-Bahu, Nepal’s second highest civilian honor.
Following her death, her husband established the non-profit Banira Giri Foundation in 2019 to support aspiring writers and house Giri’s archive of books, manuscripts and photographs.