Gopal Prasad Rimal is a noted poet and playwright who ushered in a new era in Nepali literature. His role and contribution in prose poetry and dramas have earned a high respect and reputation in Nepal literary spectrum.
Gopal Prasad Rimal was born in Lagan, Kathmandu in 1918 AD as the eldest son of Umakanta Rimal and Aditya Kumari. He attained his education in Kathmandu, Nepal. He was a brilliant student and topped the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination in 1992 BS. He completed intermediate level of education from Tri-Chandra College. He dropped study after intermediate level because of his unstable state of mind.
After giving up formal education, he started teaching at Juddhodhaya High School—the school Rimal also helped to establish. But he could not remain for a long time in the school and quit the job of teaching in three months. He later went to Bardiya as a government surveyor. This period was the height of Rana’s authoritarian regime and its atrocities. When Rimal was in Bardiya, the 1997 BS infamous episode took place in which four brave sons of Nepal namely Sukra Raj Shastri, Ganga Lal, Dasharath Chand and Dharma Bhakta Mathema were executed by Rana rulers and several others were imprisoned by confiscating their property for their involvement in the democratic movement. When Rimal heard this incident, he was severely shocked and immediately quit the government job.
Shocked and disturbed by the 1997 BS incident, he became a spiritual person. This is the period when he started writing poems and devoted to literature. In 2003 BS, he worked as a translator in the Nepali Language Translation Council for nine months. Later, he worked as an editor of Sharada literary magazine but was fired soon because of his radical editorials.
After being ousted from the Sharada magazine, he established ‘Gaurishankar Natya Samudaya’ (Gaurishankar Drama Group) in which Bal Krishna Sama was the chairperson while Bijaya Bahadur Malla, Govinda Gothale and Krishna Prasad Rimal were the members. Gopal Prasad Rimal was its manager.