The Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) is all set to run from February 24-26 in Bhubaneswar. Marking its ninth year, the festival will showcase a powerhouse of writers, speakers, thinkers, and humanitarians from all walks of life.
The literary extravaganza will see a spectacular range of language diversity in the programme, represented by 10 countries and over 25 languages.
For its 2023 edition, the Kalinga Literary Festival will host over 500 speakers from across a vast array of nationalities, as well as recipients of major awards such as the Nobel, the Booker, International Booker, the Sahitya Akademi and many more.
It will feature a range of themes including the ongoing climate justice debate under the urgency of borrowed time theme; the great women writers and artists focusing on the female voice and identity, crime fiction, memoir, translation, poetry, economics, tech morality and Artificial Intelligence, the global crisis, cutting-edge science, India and the world, art and photography, health and medicine, amongst others.
Every year, the festival brings together a diverse mix of the world’s greatest writers, thinkers, humanitarians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers on one stage to champion the freedom to express and engage in thoughtful debate and dialogue. The Kalinga Literary Festival has hosted nearly 2500 speakers and performers and welcomed booklovers from across the world since its inception in 2013.
The Kalinga Literary Festival is back with its 9th edition to invigorate, educate, provoke, and entertain as well. Celebrities from the worlds of literature, cinema, media and politics will assemble in the temple city of Odisha to deliberate on the theme of “India and the World”, at the Kalinga Literature Festival in Bhubaneswar from February 24-26. Acclaimed writers from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan, UK, Italy, South Africa, Austria will join the festival as speakers. Over 100 artists will join Kalinga Art Festival.
Like its past editions the Kalinga Literary Festival this year also has a hard-hitting theme for writers, poets and artists to ponder on. This year central theme of the Kalinga Literary Festival is “India and the World”.
“India writes in many languages and speaks in many more voices. In order to promote deeper inclusivity across the nation, our language, folklore, the ‘Marga’ and the ‘Deshi’ traditions, will be showcased in the festival. The regions will have their pride of place, along with the province and the metropolis. Over the last 75 years, India has grown exponentially across all sectors. The mahotsav will build upon our strengths and limitations, challenges and opportunities. These could be explored co-gently through the medium of debates and dialogues, a fittest way we could pay a tribute to our motherland, a nation on the move,” a statement from the organizers said.
The festival will cover several dimensions of the interconnections between literature, freedom, republican values, cultural diversity, social equity. The sessions will be touching on the topics such democracy, cultural nationalism, generation Y, Indian languages, publishing industry, mythology, media, market, children, women, transgender, citizen engagement, cinema, sports, ethics, discrimination, revolutions, peace building, conflict resolution and harmony.
There will be several one-to-one sessions with leading experts on the subjects. There will be a story telling sessions promise to add new flavour to the literary spirit of the festival.
Apart from this, more than 30 new books and monographs will be released during the three-day festival. The Kalinga Literary Award in literature will also be conferred during the festival, the organizers informed.
Rashmi Ranjan Parida, the founder director of KLF said: “International Booker prize winner Geetanjali Shree will join us. We are deeply honoured to have Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and so many other international and Sahitya Akademi awardees. Living legends and youth icons, including Sitakanta Mohapatra, Pratibha Ray, Ramakanta Rath, Jayanta Mohapatra, Sanjeev Sanyal , Ranjit Hoskote, Rakhshanda Jalil, Shekhar Pathak, Daya Dissanayake, Rajesh Singh, Sachchidanand Joshi, Alka Saraogi, Vyomesh Shukla, Geet Chaturvedi, Gagan Gill, Satya Vyas,Pravin Kumar, Hindol Sengupta, Prabhat Ranjan, Asghar Wajahat, Divya Prakash Dubey, Navtej Sarna, Akshaya Mukul and others will join to contribute to the ongoing discussions in literature.”
Ashutosh Kumar Thakur, coordinator of the Kalinga Literary Festival said: “The 9th edition of Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) returns with the promise of hope and optimism. Our return emphasises resilience and the spirit of Rise. We have gathered talent from across the globe to present writers of genius as diverse as any literary festival on the planet. This year’s is a truly spectacular line-up of literary superstars from across the world. We are delighted to bring back the joy of literary spirit to the temple city Bhubaneswar.”
