BANGALORE: Story writers should not lose their orientation. They should identify themselves as poets first,” observed veteran Kannada writer and Jnanapith awardee, Prof U R Ananthamurthy here on Saturday. Speaking at the launch of Nataraj Huliyar’s two books- Galibelaku, a collection of cultural writings and Mayakinnari, a collection of small stories, Ananthamurthy said “Tejaswi, Lankesh and I started writing short stories. After our generation we started feeling that the era of small stories have come to end. But it is not so. Young story writers have acquired a new talent of expressing stories.” Ananthamurthy added that Kannada writers have been declared as one of the best in the country.