10th edition of Odisha Literary Festival kicks off in Bhubaneswar on Saturday- The New Indian Express
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Literary Festival (OLF), eastern India’s biggest literary extravaganza by The New Indian Express, will kick off on Saturday. Celebrating the written word, the 10th edition of the hugely successful literary festival will bring together some of India’s best minds in literature, politics, society, performing arts and changemakers.
The two-day festival will be inaugurated by Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan who will deliver the keynote address ‘Reading is Becoming: The 21st Century Leader’. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be the chief guest at the valedictory session with his session on ‘My State: The Soul of Stories’ in presence of Editorial Director of The New Indian Express Prabhu Chawla.
With a galaxy of 30 speakers, the 2022 edition will have 17 sessions. Celebrated names like Manoranjan Byapari, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Kabir Bedi, Ram Madhav, Aparna Kartikeyan, Sridala Swami, Aparna Piramal Raje, Madhu Kishwar, Ghazala Wahab, Anil Pradhan, Jubanashwa Mishra, Yatindra Mishra, Anant Vijay, Nanditha Krishna and Parvati Sharma will be part of the festival.
Odia literature and culture have always been central to the literary festival. After rendition of ‘Saraswati Vandana’, the first session of the Day-1 ‘Saving Cultural Practices: Stories of Our Future’ will be helmed by researcher Prateek Patnaik, Odissi dancer Arushi Mudgal and vocalist Sniti Mishra.
This will be followed by another session ‘Where is the New Generation of Odia Writers?’ where luminaries of the Odia literature Gourahari Das, Adhyapak Biswaranjan, Chandrasekhar Hota and Sanghamitra Bhanja will discuss the pertinent issue.
While rickshaw wallah-turned-acclaimed writer-turned politician Manoranjan will speak on how he rewrote his life, motivational speaker and mental health advocate Aparna Piramal Raje will give lessons on how to be happy.
Award-winning members of the Odia film industry Prashant Nanda, Surya Deo, Himansu Sekhar Khatua, Sabyasachi, Sanjoy Patnaik will brainstorm on ‘Odia Literature and Odia Cinema’ while Indian music and cinema scholar Yatindra will engage in a conversation with columnist-author Anant on writing cinema.
Similarly, Kabir Bedi, one of India’s most famous international actors, will speak about his journey in Bollywood as well as Hollywood. Writer and director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari also will give a lesson on how to write a great script. Author and journalist Aparna Karthikeyan will engage in a conversation with poet and writer Sridala Swami on Indian tales.
Like every year, OLF will host a story-telling session ‘When Imagination Takes Flight: My Bag of Tales’ by popular storyteller and founder of Your Story Bag Rituparna Ghosh. Also, students of schools across Bhubaneswar will take part in a debate competition.
Similarly, academic and researcher Madhu Kishwar and editor Ghazala Wahab will engage in a discussion over ‘The Hijab Question’. Authors Nanditha and Parvati would deliberate on ‘North and South: Does Our History Need to Be Reoriented?’ Likewise, politician and social leader Ram Madhav will engage in a conversation on ‘The Hindutva Pardigm: The Social Shift’.
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