Review: KALINGA LITERARY FESTIVAL at Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Orissa witnessed a three day long Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) recently. This was the fourth edition of the festival that is gradually gaining a lot of popularity. The festival was held between June 10-12

This year the theme of the festival was Literature for Peace and Harmony. Quite in sync with the mood of the moment, the festival explored how literature can promote peace and harmony.

The festival was inaugurated by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He expressed happiness that the youth of Odisha have created a platform like Kalinga Literary Festival to bring back the glory of ancient Kalinga. and the present day world has much more to learn from Odisha.

Padma Vibhushan Sitakant Mahapatra and Padma Bhushan Ramakanta Rath also highlighted that the many Indian and western academics and literary experts are interested to know more on Odisha.

First two days of the festival were held at Mayfair Convention in Bhubaneswar, Chilika was chosen as a natural destination for the concluding session of KLF and Mystic Kalinga. The concluding session held at the shore of beautiful Chilka Lake with Mystic Kalinga session saw leading poets reciting poems at the Mystic Kalinga session held at Mangalajodi Bird Sanctuary and OD Art Centre. Poets like Vineet Kumar, Sudipti Nirupam, Baqir Shameem, Satyanand Nirupam and others celebrity poets recited their new poems.

In the concluding session Kalinga Literary Festival founder Rashmi Ranjan Parida, writer and publisher Ashok Maheswari, Vineet Kumar, Sudipti Nirupam, Baqir Shamim, Satyanand Nirupam, film critics Santanu Ganguly, KLF co-convenor Prachee Naik, Team members like Sambit Samal, co-founder Debaraj Mohanty, co-founder Sitansu Mahapatra, KLF co-founder and Director Kamala Kanta Dash and others joined to celebrate the spirit of literature.

Founder Shri Parida announced the 2018 Kalinga Literary Festival, which will be held during 8-10 June 2018.

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