On 10th April 2014, Rabi Thapa, the author of “Nothing to Declare” published by Penguin India, was invited to DWIT for an interaction session with students. The event was organized by members of the book club and all three batches were present for the program. The interaction program was conducted in the Lhotse hall. The program started at 11:30 a.m. with a welcome speech by Dipesh Poudel, one of the members of the book club. Then another member, Bardan Gurung spoke about the book in brief. After that, Thapa gave his perspective on a variety of topics in response to questions asked by members of the book club. He spoke about how he accidentally ended up writing a collection of short stories while attempting to write a novel. He mentioned that the stories in his first collection are very close to his experience as is the case with a lot of debut writers, but are nonetheless works of fiction. Thapa was asked questions about specific stories in the collection as well as general questions about his writing and life as a writer. In response to a question about his portrayal of incidents and events that might be deemed “immoral” he said that the writer’s job is to show things as they are, not as they should be. A student also asked about his use of Nepali words in the book. He said that the use of Nepali word allows him to represent Nepali culture more accurately in an English text. When asked how establish oneself as a writer, Thapa emphasized that being a writer is very difficult and not as romantic as it may sound. Towards the end of the session, Thapa was asked questions by other members of the audience as well as some faculty members. The discussion was lively with Thapa addressing both serious questions and some lighter ones such as the use of swear words. The students thoroughly enjoyed the session and said they were looking forward to similar events in the future. Thapa’s visit ended with lunch at the Deerwalk canteen with members of the book club. For additional information, contact: Anju Shahi, President - The Book Club; Email: [email protected]; Phone: 4-485424.