Kanak Mani Dixit

Kanak Mani Dixit is a Nepali political activist and founding editor of Himal Southasian magazine. While studying at Columbia University in the 1980s, he founded a magazine called Himal, to report on Himalayan politics and culture. After earning two graduate degrees Mr. Dixit moved back to Nepal and restarted the publication, which later evolved into Himal Southasian.

Mr. Dixit served as editor and publisher for Himal while engaging in civil rights and democracy activism in Nepal. His activism aggravated former royalists inside the Nepali government. He contended that royalists who violated civil liberties should not be granted amnesty. After Mr. Dixit was arrested in 2016 on dubious charges of financial malfeasance, Himal Southasian was pressured financially.  Ultimately the operation relocated to Sri Lanka, where it continues to cover political and cultural affairs in  Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tibet. 

Mr. Dixit continues to reside in Kathmandu where he established the country’s first spinal-rehabilitation center, heads the country's major public bus cooperative, and takes part in other aspects of Nepali civil society.