Eight Koraput Literary Legends Felicitated
Koraput: 7 April 2018:
The two-day Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) in Koraput kicks off here to celebrate the art, culture and literature of the Koraput valley. The festival was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Honourable MP Shri Jhina Hikaka, Distinguished Guest and Key Note Speaker, Vice Chancellor of Central University of Odisha, Prof Sachidananda Mohanty; Hon’ble Member of State Planning Board and award winning conservationist, Ms. Kamala Pujari as Guest of Honour; the face of anti-liquor movement in the region and legendary social activist, Ms. Sumani Jhodia as Guest of Honour; best-selling author and youth icon Shri Barendra Kumar as Guest of Honour; Convener of Kalinga Literary Festival, Shri Manoranjan Routray and Founder of Kalinga Literary Festival, Shri Rashmi Ranjan Parida.
The inaugural session saw felicitation of leading lights of Koraput valley. KLF in Koraput Sahitya Samman was conferred on eight literary personalities. They are namely: Mr. Krushna Chandra Singh (veteran freedom fighter social worker and Bhoodan Movement activist), Er. Dasarathi Nanda (literary critic and essayist) , Mr. Narayan Panda (fictionist), Ms. Chandrama Balia, Mr. Chakrapani Parichha (noted poet), Mr. Laxaman Mandra (from Malkangiri research personality for Banda community and language), Mr. Mahendra Mishra (lingustic expert and resource person for tribal language and folklore) and Mr. Satyanarayan Gantayat ( literary activist and satire writer from Rayagada).
Both Kamala Pujari and Sumani Jhodia spoke on the requirement of such festivals in activating the literary spirit of the Koraput valley. They highlighted the need of Koraput based literature to reach out to Bhubanewar and Delhi. Prof Mohanty appreciated the Kalinga Literary Festival, its local focus and congratulated for bringing the festival to Koraput. He offered to host future of KLF on his campus as the infrastructure gets ready in near future. Barendra Kumar spoke on the need to translate Koraput’s literature, folk songs and oral history. He exhorted the youth to take this responsibility and work as bridge builders between regional and global literatures.
MP Jhina Hikaka spoke at length on the significance of such literary platforms as boosters of creativity. He was happy to see legends from the valley being felicitated. Manoranjan Routray introduced the theme of the festival, Prof Kamala Kanta Dash shared the reason behind KLF coming to Koraput, Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Parida and Mr. Debasish Samantaray thanked the guest, delegates, media and awardees, some of them who came from long distances despite the short notice. Poet Meena Swain introduced the guests and writer-journalist Ms. Matrudatta Mohanty anchored the sessions of the day.
It should be noted that Kalinga Literary Festival is an initiative of Odisha Diary Foundation and Odia Media Info Services Pvt Ltd. Trip For Fun (T4F), Hotel Alishan, NALCO, Kalinga Kusum extended support and partnership to this unique event in Koraput.
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