This Week Those Books is chock-full of crucial context — from fiction and non-fiction — to the shouty, doomscroll news cycle.
Nepal gets a new beat with its rapper PM
The testy history with neighbours India and China. An allegory on deep wounds
Cover of the YouTube video of one of Balen’s songs, Balidan, about sacrifice. It has millions of views
The Big Story:
Nepal has elected a 35-year-old rapper as prime minister but can he translate the calls for change into an anthem of national renewal?
- Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, takes office six months after violent Gen Z-led protests toppled the government, demanding wholesale reform.
- Balen is South Asia’s youngest elected leader since Benazir Bhutto, also aged 35 back in 1988, became Pakistan’s prime minister.
- He is buoyed by people’s high expectations but faces Himalayan challenges.
- Nepal still feels the effects of multiple crises of the past 25 years. These include the 2001 massacre of nearly all its royal family; a massive earthquake in 2015 and occasional run-ins with giant neighbours India and China.
This Week’s Books:
- Which way is Nepal tilting?
- A novel about dark times, not too long ago.
Click to read on about the books and the back story
Originally published at https://medium.com
