Odisha Foundation organizes Kalinga Literary Festival 2015

Bhubaneswar, May 17: Leading Scholars, Creative Minds, Poets, Writers, Journalists, film critics, artists and celebrities assembled to celebrate the spirit of Literature at the 2d edition of Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) at MayFair in Bhubaneswar. They discussed threadbare on how the literature represents and reflect the myriad colors and emotions of social life.

Each session was dedicated to the central theme of this year’s festival: Literature as Reflection. The KLF is being organized by the Roots of Odisha Foundation (ROOF), a leading platform of diasporic Odia community to connect to the roots of Odisha and collaborate in Odisha’s development.

Ashok Chandra Panda, Honourable Minister of Tourism, Government of Odisha, Sir Mark Tully, leading journalist, Dr. Pratibha Ray, noted novelist, Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Parida, the Director of KLF inaugurated the festival.

Mr Panda spoke on the need of literature, Mr. Tully spoke of his experience of writing as a BBC reporter and Dr. Ray in her address highlighted how language and literature are entwined. KLF Co-Convenor Mr. Sitansu Mahapatra presented the introductory note about the journey of the KLF.  Mr. Sudhir Kumar Dash founder trustee of the ROOF provided a brief overview of the organisation and how it is connecting global Odias with their roots.

Several books and one CD were released in the inaugural session. Anil Dhir’s Confluence, Adyasha Das’s Brass Flower, Ramakanta Das’s In Retrospect, Elora Rath’s I Never Expected Life would change so much, Itishri Sarangi’s Plays and Life of Arthur Miller and Mrinal Chaterjee’s Jagate Thiba Jete Dina (CD) were released.

In the session on whether Bhasa Sahitya has been impacted by the huge popularity of the English literature the panelists Ashok Chakradhar, Gourahari Das, Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, Pranesh Prasad and moderator Deba Prasad Dash discussed the impact of English and the diversity of opinions of the panelists brought insights into the challenges and opportunities of language education and how English emerged as a connecting language and what danger it poses when it becomes the lingua franca of the elite and the policy makers who reject the non-English speaking population as unaware and uneducated.

The session on feminism and the panelists articulated the need of a feminist mind and argued why it is not required to be a woman to become a feminist. The panelists of this session were Dr. Ranjana Kumar, P Lalitha Kumari, Sushma Seth and was moderated by Paramita Satapathy.

The session on Cinema discussed, deliberated and debated whether the parallel cinema is being threatened by the 100 crore commercial cinema. The panel comprised of Suhsma Seth, Roopa Ganguly, Sabyasachi Mahapatra, Anu Chaudhury, Sharat Katariya, Santanu Ganguly and was moderated by Anna Vetticad.

The session on media saw a very vibrant debate on the role of the media and whether the media in the age of market is increasingly becoming a tool in the hands. The panelists included Mark Tully, Prabhu Chawla, Urmilesh, Sanatnu Guha Roy, Satya Narayan Sahu, Sanjay Ahirwal, and was moderated by Mrinal Chatterjee. The session ‘Media, Medium and Message’ discussed the need of divergent views coming to the forefront and how the privileged class is increasingly interested in the media industry and whether the media is losing its credibility.

The last session discussed on the social exclusion and deliberated on the story of Dalit, Tribal in mainstream literature and whether there have been stories of confrontation or of concern for the mass. The panelists included Prof Kancha Illiah, Mr. Barendra Kumar, Sabyasachi Mahapatra and Kamala Kanta Dash moderated the session.

The Valedictory session summarized the day long deliberations and presented the future plan for KLF and how the team will engage students at different educational institutions of the state. Dr. Bibhuti Patnaik and Debasish Samantary joined the panel and Sahasranshu Mahapatra offered the vote of thanks.