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NH Humanities Council celebrates publication of English-Nepali picture book with Folktale Festival

Join the New Hampshire Humanities Council to celebrate the launch of a newly published Nepali-English picture book at a Folktale Festival from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, at the William B. Cashin Senior Activity Center, 151 Douglas St., Manchester.

The festival is free. Space is limited, so reservations are suggested via the Humanities Council’s website, www.nhhc.org.

Enjoy food, music, crafts and storytelling to celebrate “The Story of a Pumpkin,” a picture book in Nepali and English.

The festival will include storyteller Rebecca Rule sharing New Hampshire tales. Portions of Rule’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 in the book. The event also will include a story booth where participants can tell a story with a family member.

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. 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 U.S. 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 Bhutanese immigrants to refugee camps in Nepal to escape persecution and then to a new life in America.

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