The 5th edition of the Kalinga Literary Festival kick-started in Bhubaneswar on Friday in the presence of eminent personalities from Indian literature, politics, media and public services.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the three-day festival. He said the event could be a perfect opportunity to showcase the rich heritage of Odia literature and litterateurs. “I propose that let there be a discussion on literary works of eminent Odia writers who have been felicitated with the National Awards. Let us discuss, appreciate and critically analyse their works which will have an impact on many future writers,” the Minister said.
During the inaugural ceremony, eminent writers were felicitated for inspiring works in literary and professional world. Padmaj Pal received the Kalinga Sahitya Sanman (Odia), Amish Tripathi the Kalinga International Literary Award (writing in any global language) and Nirupama Rao the Kalinga Karubaki Literary Award (for women writers).
Pradhan also requested the writers present on the occasion to write about the rich Kalinga legacy. The literature festival celebrates not just Odia but Indian as well as global literature through the presence of many non-Indian writers.
Amish Tripathi, famous for his Indian mythology books The Immortals of Meluha of the Shiva Trilogy, said, “Ancient Kalinga had a rich legacy and was influential in not just east India but entire India. This legacy must be retold to the new generations. As I have lived in Odisha in my early childhood, it has become my duty to write about King Kharavela to showcase the rich Kalinga culture.”
Eminent Odia writer Pratibha Ray said that literature does not know any boundaries called language. “It is an open sky where each writer can paint his or her imagination without fear of being judged,” she added.
Young writers and poets from several districts of Odisha will be given the Kalinga Literary Youth Awards for excellence in literary fields during the literary festival. It will see more than 300 writers, poets, lyricists, journalists and public intellectuals speaking on the idea of a just society and how literature reflects this through the ideas of equality, equity and humanity.
As part of the event, mystic Kalinga multi-lingual poetry sessions will see many senior poets reading poetry in different languages including that of Odia, Hindi, English and Bengali among others.
Prasanta Patnaik