Kanak Mani Dixit is a writer and journalist as well as a civil rights and democracy activist. He is a campaigner for open urban spaces, and is also active in the conservation of built heritage. Dixit helped revive Nepal’s only public bus company and is involved in applying the concept of public transportation to the Valley. He is also active in developing of Southasian regionalism. Believing the power of non-fiction film, he started and heads the Film South Asia Festival of Documentaries. Dixit is also a translator, an author of political commentaries, and a popular author of books for children. Dixit has received the Prince Claus Award of the Netherlands.