BHUBANESWAR: Eastern India’s biggest literary extravaganza, the Odisha Literary Festival (OLF) 2023 is all set to get underway here on Saturday. Into its 11th edition, the two-day festival organised by The New Indian Express will host a galaxy of speakers and 18 sessions that span across a wide range of topics from Indian and Odia literature, films, music to arts, etc.
The festival will be inaugurated by Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan who will speak on ‘Words, Ideas and Lessons: Creating a New Sense of Identity’.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be the chief guest at the valedictory session. He will speak on ‘Odisha The Muse: Inspiring Generations’ in the presence of TNIE editorial director Prabhu Chawla.
After the rendition of ‘Ganesh Vandana’ by vocalist Saranya Mishra, the festival will begin with a tribute to the legendary poet Jayanta Mahapatra. While a documentary on Mahapatra - who passed away last month - will be screened, poet Sampurna Chattarji and academic Sachidananda Mohanty will speak about him and his immeasurable contribution to Indian poetry at the session.
Former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will speak about his newly published memoirs along with his life as a diplomat, politician, and author. Award-winning director Nila Madhab Panda would deliberate on ‘telling tough stories’. Similarly, ace director Hansal Mehta who recently released ‘Faraaz’ and ‘Scoop’ will speak about adapting for OTT platforms at his session ‘Life to Page to Screen’.
Like every year, Odia literature will be the highlight of the festival and is the only of its kind in the state. Day 1 will see authors Nivedita Mohanty, Gourahari Das, and Abhiram Biswal speak about ‘Nationalism in Odia Literature’ in a session chaired by journalist Sampad Patnaik. Day 2 will have a discussion on ‘The Female Gaze: Women Writing in Odia’. This session will be helmed by women writers Sanghamitra Mishra, Chirashree Indrasingh, Sarojini Sahoo and Lipipuspa Nayak.
Authors Manish Gaekwad, Madhur Gupta and singer Vidya Shah will discuss ‘Presenting Hidden History: Courtesans or Cultural Icons’ and writers Gourav Mohanty and Satyarth Nayak will talk about ‘Epics and Modernity’.
Celebrated crime fiction writer Surendra Mohan Pathak, economist Parakala Prabhakar, scientist Anand Ranganathan, authors Anirudh Kala, and Durjoy Datta and actor Mita Vasisht will also be part of the festival which promises to be as exciting as the past 10 editions.
A special session and competition on limericks will also be hosted. While the session will be chaired by Bibek Debroy, economist and chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, with researcher Aparna Ray and cartoonist-poet Hpraz Srivastava, the competition for students will be judged by Debroy.
A book on the President of India, ‘Droupadi Murmu: From Tribal Hinterlands to Raisina Hills’ authored by Kasturi Ray will be released on the occasion. Tributes will also be paid to eminent author Gita Mehta, who passed away earlier this month, through screening of a documentary on her.