Kalinga Literary Festival In Koraput

Kalinga Literary Festival In Koraput

Despite the fact that literary talent comes from far and remote corners of the state, Bhubaneswar has always been the centre stage for organising most of the literary festivals. However, this year, in order to promote Odia literature in other parts of the state, the Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) takes this event to Koraput. The two-day literary festival, which will begin from April 7, is likely to be attended by leading Odia writers, poets, thinkers from the region.

Some of the leading names among the literary personalities expected to attend the event are Haldhar Nag, Sumani Jhodia, Debiprasanna Pattanaik, Hrushikesh Panda, Debadas Chhotaray, Hussain Rabi Gandh and Achuyt Das. Besides them, Mahendra Mishra, Jyoti Nanda, Bipin Nayak, Narayan Panda, Surya Mishra, Rakhyak Nayak, Biyot Projna Tripathy, Gourhari Das, Jalandhar Swain, Jagabandhu Samal, Laxmikanta Padhi, Alok Kumar Baral and Sushanta Nayak are on the guest list for the fest.  

Speaking about festival, Manoranjan Routray, Convener Koraput Literary Festival informed, “This is our first initiative in Koraput and we hope that KLF in Koraput will promote an all-inclusive definition of literature which goes beyond the written text and includes all performances, informal story-telling and folklore.”

During the festival, eminent litterateurs and performers will be felicitated with the Koraput Literary Award. Moreover, KLF Koraput Sahitya Samman will be conferred to eight literary personalities from the Koraput valley: Krushna Chandra Singh (veteran freedom fighter, social worker and bhudan karmee); Er Dasarathi Nanda (literary critic and essayist); Narayan Panda (fictionist); Chandrama Balia; Chakrapani Parichha (noted poet); Laxaman Mandra (research personality for Banda community and language); Mahendra Mishra (linguistic expert and resource person for tribal language and folklore); and Satyanarayan Gantayat (literary activist and satire writer from Rayagada).

Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Founder of Kalinga Literary Festival, said, “Kalinga Literary Festival in Koraput is an initiative by Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) to reach out to different regions of Odisha in order to get access to the life and culture, language and literature, performers and writers. KLF in Koraput will reach out to the entire Koraput valley and Southern Odisha, the region is rich in art, culture, nature and beauty. We bring in our regional and national network to Koraput to acknowledge great work and encourage inspiring contributions and initiatives in the field of literature in its diversified forms.”

Meanwhile, Chandrakanta Biswal, Dwiti Chandra Sahu, Pritidhara Samal, Madhuri Panda, Kedar Mishra, Debasis Patra, Ranjan Pradhan, Sujit Panda, Debapriya Priyadarshi Chakra, Mahasweta Sahu, Dr Pradip Mishra, Rudrani Mohanty, Dr Rajendra Padhi, Bijay Upadhyaya, Achyut Das, Sumani Jhodia, Chakrapani Parichha, Priyabrat Patra, Matrudutta Mohanty, Pramod Pradhan, Gajanan Mishra,  Prahallad Satapathy and Sanjay Mishra, among others will also be gracing the event.