User:Raavimohantydelhi/Kalinga Literary Festival

The Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF), is one of the Indian literary festival s which is held every year in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha state in India. Kalinga is the historic name of Odisha which always has been the attribute of Indian agriculture, art, craft, culture, and literature. The Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) is an initiative to bridge the gap between ancient and developed Odisha and connecting with the future through literature. KLF is organised during the monsoon in the month of July and the first festival was held after the achievement of Odia language as the sixth classical language of India and after Bhubaneswar was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission as one of the first 20 Indian pioneer cities in the smart city project. The aim & objectives of this festival are to improve & explore Odia literature, history, and its national and global interrelationship. To motivate & value the literary endeavors, the founder Mr Rashmi Ranjan Parida proposed & announced a category award as Kalinga Literary Award to be started from 19 July 2019.

= History = Kalinga has been a glorious phase in the history of India and the world since ancient times. Kalinga excelled in arts, crafts, culture and literature. It stood out in maritime trade taking both culture and agriculture beyond the edges of the Indian subcontinents.

Despite many challenges, modern Odisha is on course to become a leading state in India in terms of economic growth and opportunities for the young and the coming generations. It is an appropriate time to connect the old with the new and to make bridges between the past, present and future. Literature, among others, became the most powerful tools for connecting glorious history with the Odia language and being accepted globally as a tradition that has been in place for over 2000 years. Keeping this in mind, it was planned to organize the Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) in 2014. It is organized by Odisha Media Information Service (OMIS) Pvt Ltd and Odisha Diary Foundation (ODF) and Raitham Facial Pvt Ltd. It provides a platform for dialogue between the world's best talents of literature within and outside Odisha and India.

First Kalinga Literary Festival
The first Kalinga Literary Festival took place in the temple city of Bhubaneswar on 24 February 2014. The chief speaker and the chief guest in it were Padma Vibhushan Shri Sitakant Mahapatra honored with Jnanpith Award while Pratibha Ray was the special guest. Its main theme was the celebration of language and literature.

Key Speaker: Sitakanta Mohapatra

Second Kalinga Literary Festival
The 2nd KLF was organized in Bhubaneswar on 17 May 2015 and it's main theme was 'Literature as Pratibimb i.e reflection'. The keynote speaker in this was former BBC correspondent Mark Tully. The role of literature in nation building was discussed during the first day's main session. Many topics were discussed including romanticism and contemporary literature, feminism in contemporary literature, parallel cinema and contemporary literature, Dalit and tribal literature, media, medium, message and literature, Bhasa literature versus English literature and many other inter-related issues. Number of 50 speakers were joined to the festival and kept there words.

Key Speaker: Mark Tully

Third Kalinga literary Festival
This was held in June 2016. Started on 18 June and ended on 19 June 2016. The main theme of the 3rd KLF was the literature, and the democracy. The key speakers were Dr Subramanian Swamy and Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar. In the main sessions of this festival, there were discussions about dialogue development and democratic sentiments in literature. Apart from this, there was a discussion a bout administration, 'young', 'women', 'media', 'sports', 'folk', and 'regional literature' in the language of Kalinga.

Key Speakers: Dr Subramanian Swamy, Mani Shankar Aiyar

Fourth Kalinga Literary Festival
The 4th KLF was held from 10 June to 12 June 2017 in Bhubaneswar. The main subject was literature and keynote speakers for peace and harmony, famous Hindi poet Dr. Kedarnath Singh. Over 250 speakers accompanied & delivered their valuable views.

Key Speaker: Eminent writer and poet Dr Kedarnath Singh.