New Delhi: 2020-21appeared in our lives with a deadly virus that eventually took the form of pandemic. While the entire nation was under lockdown, Kalinga Literary Festival decided to continue the celebration of literature and spirit digitally. On 17th May, 2020 Kalinga Lit Fest announced its virtual platform- ‘KLF Bhava Samvad’. Now, a year down the lane, KLF Bhava Samvad has gloriously completed one year with 200+ successful sessions with 500 Speakers, over 15 million audience engaging. KLF Bhav Samvad’s sessions focus on literature, public policy, and thinking in multiculturalism, humanism and contemporary issues of society in large.
“With over 200 sessions we have come a long way. It is people’s love for literature that made this happen,” said Rashmi Ranjan Parida, founder-director of Kalinga Literary Festival, Mystic Kalinga Festival. As Mr. Parida states, KLF Bhava Samvad has collaborated with leading publishing houses like Penguin Random House, Westland, Harper Collins India, ROLI Books, Rajpal & Sons,Vani Prakashan, Rupa & Co., Niyogi Books and many more.
KLF Bhava Samvad went live on May 17, 2020, with a poetry-reading panel. That was a cold breeze to summer heat for the KLF fanbase. Soon after the first virtual session of South-Asian literature, the gradual growth of KLF Bhava Samvad began to mark its slot putting an end to speculations. Eminent personalities of literature, business, culture, law makers, spiritual, like Amitav Ghosh, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Dr Pratibha Roy, Mamta Kalia, Lord Meghnad Desai, Bibek Debroy, S Y Quraishi, Pt. Hari Prasad Chourasia, Geeta Shree, Prabhat Ranjan, Durjoy Dutta, Sandeep Bamzai, Swami Mukundanand, Sarah Joseph, Ghazala Wahab, Sandeep Agarwal, Amish Tripathi, Devdutt Pattanaik, Ram Madhav, Arundhati Subramaniam, Haldhar Naag, Pt Kunj Bihari Mishra, Rasheed Kidwai, Geeta Shree, TT Ram Mohan, Atul K Thakur, Shobha Akshar, Keshava Guha, Etc. KLF also hosted 4 special sessions to give tribute to legendary writer Manoj Dash.
“The heart speaks and the mind listens, the eyes tell the stories and silence raises our consciousness. As we know that literature always reflects society and sometimes guides as well, we at KLF are going to connect with poets, philosophers and writers, to know how literature has captured this pandemic and how successful it has been in reflecting the contemporary and ongoing reality of life.” Said Mr Ashutosh Kumar Thakur Advisor & Curator of KLF.
The festival made another big announcement about the launch of ‘Mystic India Festival’. MKF focuses on literary celebration on pan India basis which is soon to be commenced.
Kalinga Literary Festival celebrates the creative spirit of India and commemorates the literary diversity it offers, bringing it in conversation with the best minds in the world of literature within and outside of Odisha and India. Back in 2014, the first ever edition of KLF had aimed to promote the literary and cultural heritage of Odisha or Kalinga (ancient name) and eventually flapped wings to fly over Indian subcontinent.
Academicians, authors, political and social activists, law makers, government officials, corporate leaders, students and people from all walks of life immerse in the vibrant atmosphere of the festival and exchange opinions on their favorite authors and works.
“KLF Bhava Samvad was initiated to keep the literary spirit intact during lockdown because of the pandemic. The rapid growth of platform and after receiving immense love from the audience, KLF Bhava Samvad has reached at a remarkable point having legendary literary figures, artistes across the globe on board and will continue to live as a permanent platform,” Mr Parida.
About Kalinga Literary Festival
Kalinga Literary Festival is one of the oldest and largest national festival held in India held in Bhubaneswar of Odisha. Kalinga Literary Festival has two popular sister festival they are Mystic Kalinga Festival (KLF) and Kandhamal Literary Festival.
Annual Kalinga Literary Festival, Mystic Kalinga Festival (KLF) celebrate the creative spirit of India and commemorate the literary diversity it offers, bringing it in conversation with the best minds in the world of literature within and outside of Odisha and India. Academics, authors, political and social activists, law makers, government officials, corporate leaders, students and people from all walks of life immerse in the vibrant atmosphere of the festival and exchange opinions on their favourite authors and works.
Mystic Kalinga Festival has emerged as an Annual Flagship event in the cultural calendar of India and our focus is to rekindle the romance with literature and foster reading and writing habits, especially among the youth. It offers a national platform with a global appeal and bridges the gap between literature in English and other Indian regional languages.
Source: Bhaskar