Eminent writers like Sitakant Mahapatra, Ramakanta Rath and Pratibha Ray will grace the festival. Similarly, renowned writer, Hindi poet and critic Ashok Vajpeyi will be the key speaker at the event.
Several Sahitya Akademi and Padma Awardees will also join to discuss how literature transcends the boundaries of artificial human creations and emotions.
Addressing the media, director and founder of Mystic Kalinga Festival, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, said, “Literature has the potential to connect a divided society and it can transform self-centeredness to world-centeredness.”
The festival features the inimitable Parvathy Baul who will share her personal understanding of bhakti, and what it means to walk the mystical path as a contemporary female seeker and musician. It features filmmaker, singer and pioneer of the Kabir Project, Shabnam Virmani, who will discuss how the mystic poets swept into her life and led her into a voyage she never anticipated.
Leading mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik will reflect on why regional bhakti movements are often ignored and eclipsed, while noted scholar Arshia Sattar will discuss the Valmiki Ramayana as a biography of Rama before he became ‘god’.
Acclaimed poets, translators and scholars – including Ashok Vajpeyi, Ramakant Rath, Indira Viswanathan Peterson, Sitakant Mohapatra, Paramita Satpathy, Archana Nayak, Raj Kishore Mishra, Mani Rao, Sachidananda-Mohanty, Kedar Mishra, Jerry Pinto, Bishnu Narayan Mohapatra, and Rahul Soni will read and discuss the extraordinary verse of some of the greatest mystic poets.
Prominent Odissi dance exponent Sharmila Biswas will also attend the event.
Prasanta Patnaik