Kalinga Literary Festival

The Kalinga Literary Festival (Hindi:कलिंग साहित्य उत्सव), also known as KLF, is an International literary festival which takes place annually in the Indian city Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Rashmi Ranjan Parida is the founder director of the festival.[1][2] The festival confers KLF Book Awards and three literary awards, which are Kalinga Literary Award, Kalinga International Literary Award, Kalinga Karubaki Award, annually to the noted Indian writers.[3]

Kalinga Literature Festival
GenreLiterary festival
Location(s)Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Years active2013–present
Websitehttp://Kalingaliteraryfestival.com

Timeline

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The festival was started in 2014 with the aim of promoting Odia language, literature, and culture.[4] The festival has been founded by journalist-writer Rashmi Ranjan Parida. Other team members include Prachee Naik and Sitansu Mahapatra.[5][6]

Second Kalinga Literary Festival was held in 2015 with the theme of 'Literature as Reflection'.[7] The key sessions focused on topics including Romanticism and contemporary literature, Feminism in contemporary Literature, Parallel Cinema and contemporary Literature, Dalit & Tribal Literature, Media, Medium, Message & Literature, Bhasa Sahitya Vs English Literature and the inter-related issues.[8][9]

The third KLF edition was held for two days on 18 and 19 June 2016. It featured over 100 speakers. Some of the notable speakers were Piyush Mishra, Arif Mohammad Khan, Rahul Pandita, Haraprasad Das, Subrat Kumar Prusty. The festival had a session on youth, language and emotions in features speakers including Satyanand Nirupam, Vineet Kumar, Kedar Mishra, Sangam Lahiri, Arundhathi Subramaniam and Sujit Mohapatra[2]

Fourth edition was launched on 10 June 2017, inaugurated by Sitakant Mahapatra and Ramakanta Rath. The main theme of the edition was "Literature for Peace and Harmony". It focused on whether literature has a role in promoting peace and harmony. The three days event (10 to 12 June) featured over 200 speakers including Bhalchandra Nemade, H. S. Shivaprakash, Kedarnath Singh, Haraprasad Das, Anand Neelakantan, Maitreyi Pushpa and Pratibha Ray. Two literary awards were introduced in this edition: Kalinga Karubaki Award and Kalinga International Literary Award.[10][11][12][5][13]

The fifth edition was launched in 2018, and held between 8 and 10 June, featuring over 300 speakers including Amish Tripathi, Ramendra Kumar, Pavan Varma, Jayanta Mahapatra, Ramakanta Rath, Gourahari Das. Other events including Mystic Kalinga Multi-lingual Poetry Sessions were also held in this edition.[14][15]

The sixth edition was held from 19 to 21 July 2019, featuring over 250 speakers. The main theme of this edition was "Gandhi's Idea of India: Truth, Non-Violence, Harmony" and it focused on Gandhian ideology. Some of the notable speakers were Namita Gokhale, Anand Neelakantan, Anu Choudhury, and Rashmi Bansal.[16][17]

Activities

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During COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, KLF launched KLF Bhava Samvad webinar series which completed 300 sessions in September 2021.[18][19][20] [21] The festival confers three awards, Kalinga International Literary Award, Kalinga Literary Award, and Kalinga Karubaki Award, annually to the noted Indian writer.[3]

KLF Kathmandu

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Kalinga Literary Festival started Kathmandu edition from 2022 with the aim of promoting Nepali language, literature, and culture.[22] [23]

References

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  1. ^ "Kalinga Literary Festival to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi". The Week. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b Ambaly, Anwesha (18 June 2016). "Kalinga Literary Festival all set to begin today". Telegraph India. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Anand Neelakantan awarded Kalinga International Literary Award". The Times of India. 2017-06-06. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  4. ^ "India's leading lit fest Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) Goes for Crowd Funding". Odisha Diary. 26 July 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b Pioneer, The (19 June 2017). "Three-day Kalinga literary Festival ends". The Pioneer. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Arundhathi subramaniam, nabaneeta sen, soubhagya mishra honoured with first mystic kalinga literary awards". Indo-Asian News Service. New Delhi. 22 December 2017.
  7. ^ 2nd Kalinga Literary Festival 2015
  8. ^ Great Debates Ensue at 1st Day of Kalinga Literary Festival : Literature has great role in Nation Building
  9. ^ Kalinga Literary Festival 2015 announced, 50 Prominent speakers, to attend KLF on 17 May at Bhubaneswar, http://www.dnaindia.com/locality/bhubaneswar/2nd-kalinga-literary-festival-be-held-bhubaneswar-may-17-58837
  10. ^ "Odisha: Kalinga Literary Festival". Outlook India. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Exchange of ideas at Kalinga lit fest". Telegraph India. 11 June 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Poet, essayist Haraprasad Das gets Kalinga Literary Award". The Indian Express. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  13. ^ Rawat, Surabhi (2017-06-10). "4th Kalinga Literary Fest begins". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Kalinga Literary Festival kicks off in Odisha; Amish Tripathi, Nirupama Rao receive awards from Dharmendra Pradhan". Firstpost. 9 June 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  15. ^ "THREE-DAY KALINGA LITERARY FESTIVAL KICKS OFF". OrissaPOST. 2018-06-08. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  16. ^ "Kalinga Literary Festival 2019 to begin from 19 July to continue till July 21". KalingaTV. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Honours for Noted Authors at Upcoming Kalinga Litfest". News18. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  18. ^ "KLF Bhava Samvad set to complete 100th session". Indo-Asian News Service. New Delhi. 1 Dec 2020.
  19. ^ "Sticking to Idealism". New Indian Express. 2020-09-17. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  20. ^ "Kalinga Lit Fest's Bhava Samvad Celebrates Literature In Time Of Pandemic". Outlook. 2021-07-27.
  21. ^ "Kalinga Literary Festival Book Awards 2020-21 announced". Sunday Guardian. 2021-09-11.
  22. ^ "Kathmandu edition of Kalinga Literary Festival to be held in October". The Kathamandu Post. 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  23. ^ Khabarhub, The (15 October 2022). "Kalinga Literary Festival begins in Kathmandu". Khabarhub. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
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