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Nepal Kalinga Literary Festival Strengthens Regional Ties

Talking about the growing number of literature festivals in the country, he feels it is a positive development, as long as they remain “neutral”…reports Asian Lite News

Ranjana Niraula, Founder, Director & Curator of the Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival said that Nepal’s contribution to global civilisation is significant and diverse, reflecting the country’s unique cultural heritage, natural resources, and strategic location.

The Yashaswi Prangya Pratisthan, Nepal Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) scheduled to be held on September 7 and 8 in Nepal’s capital city will host over 400 writers from Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The central theme of the festival is ‘The Gateways to Asian Art, Culture and Literature’.

KLF will also hold festivals in Sri Lanka and Indonesia this year. Likewise, Cambodia is also on the cards.

Rashmi Ranjan Parida, KLF Founder and Director stressed that the civilisational connection between Kalinga and Kathmandu inspired him to start a festival in Nepal.

“Not to mention, the strong ties between the two countries. Wherever we do a festival, the stress is on writers of that region, precisely why 300 Nepalese writers will participate. There is much diversity of language and culture in Nepal. Our effort is to make the festival inclusive,” he said.

All set to start festivals in Colombo and Bali this year onwards, Parida added: “Cambodia is also on the cards. Both Sri Lanka and Indonesia boast of strong literary traditions, and I am sure the festivals there will be received very well.”

Talking about the growing number of literature festivals in the country, he feels it is a positive development, as long as they remain “neutral”.

“Of course, they bring writers and readers in the same physical space and encourage more people to read. However, it is paramount that contemporary social issues be discussed. There should be an array of diverse voices, views and ideas. The festival must remain neutral,” added Parida.

International Booker Prize-winning author Geetanjali Shree, writers including Jerry Pinto, Sandeep Bamzai, Mrinal Pandey, Paul Sukirta Kumar, Maria Goreti, Usha Uthup, Yatindra Mishra, Gurucharan Das, Uday Prakash, Ystish Kumar, Kanishk Gupta, Rahul Soni, Ila Arun, Arundhathi Subramaniam, , Richard Mohapatra, Ranjit Rae, Haldhar Nag, Devdas Chhotray, Saroj Bala, Kedar Mishra and others from India will join the festival.

While from Nepal, poet and folklore expert Prof. Abhi Subedi, Tulasi Diwasa, Dr Jagman Gurung, Ashesh Malla, S.J.B. Rana, Bishow Parajuli, CK Lal, Rohini Rana, Dhirendra Premrishi, Dr. Usha Thakur, and Prof. Dr. Beena Paudel among others will be among the 300 writers who will join the festival.

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Arts & Culture Books Lite Blogs

KLF Announces 2024 Book Awards Shortlist

The Fiction shortlist boasts of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Victory City’, Vauhini Vara’s ‘This is Salvaged: Stories’, and Devika Rege’s ‘Quarterlife: A Novel’…reports Asian Lite News

Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) has announced the shortlist (English) for the Annual KLF Book Awards for 2024.

This year’s shortlist includes works such as Manoj Mitta’s ‘Caste Pride: Battles for Equality in Hindu India’, Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey through Opium’s Hidden Histories’, Salman Rushdie’s ‘Victory City’, Devika Rege’s ‘Quarterlife: A Novel’, Ranjit Hoskote’s ‘Icelight’, Gurcharan Das’s ‘Another Sort of Freedom’ and former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s ‘Breaking the Mould – Reimagining India’s Economic Future’.

Rashmi Ranjan Parida, founder and director of KLF, said, “Literature is the mirror and the lamp of society — it reflects our realities and illuminates our dreams. We strive to honour those literary works that challenge our perspectives, enrich our experiences, and elevate our understanding of the world and ourselves.”

In the Non-Fiction category, Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey through Opium’s Hidden Histories’, Neerja Chowdhry’s ‘How Prime Ministers Decide’, and Manoj Mitta’s ‘Caste Pride: Battles for Equality in Hindu India’ have been shortlisted.

The Fiction shortlist boasts of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Victory City’, Vauhini Vara’s ‘This is Salvaged: Stories’, and Devika Rege’s ‘Quarterlife: A Novel’.

Books in the Poetry shortlist include Ranjit Hoskote’s ‘Icelight’, Robin S. Ngangom’s ‘My Invented Land: New and Selected Poems’, and Varavara Rao’s ‘A Life in Poetry’.

The Debut shortlist includes Atharva Pandit’s ‘Hurda’, Sohini Chattopadhyay’s ‘The Day I Became a Runner: A Women’s History of India through the Lens of Sport’, and Radhika Iyengar’s ‘Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras’.

In the Children category, the shortlisted books include Bijal Vachharajani, Rajiv Eipe’s ‘When Fairyland Lost Its Magic’, Nikhil Gulati, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer’s ‘The People Of The Indus: And the Birth of Civilisation in South Asia’, Ravi Kapoor, and Nicholas Hoffland’s ‘Golden Tiger Mountain’.

The Business shortlist comprises Gurcharan Das’s ‘Another Sort of Freedom’, Akshat Rathi’s ‘Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions’, and Raghuram Rajan, Rohit Lamba’s ‘Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future’.

The Translation shortlist includes Vivek Shanbhag’s ‘Sakina’s Kiss’, translated by Srinath Perur, Imayam’s ‘A Woman Burnt’, translated by GJV Prasad, and Manoj Rupda’s ‘I Named My Sister Silence’ translated by Hansda Sowvendra Shekha.

KLF will be held from February 9 to 11 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

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Arts & Culture Kerala Lite Blogs

Star-Studded Line-up for KLF 2024

The list also includes Kailash Sathyarthi (Nobel Peace Laureate), Charu Nivedita (author), T.M. Krishna (vocalist, activist, and author), Suraj Yengde (columnist and author), and K.K. Shailaja (Kerala MLA)…reports Asian Lite News

The Kerala Literature Festival (KLF 2024) has announced its line-up of speakers for the seventh edition scheduled to be held from January 11 to 14, 2024, on the beaches of Kozhikode. Notable attendees include Raghuram Rajan (economist), William Dalrymple (historian), Palanivel Thiagarajan (Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Information Technology), T. H. Vinayakram (Indian percussionist), Resul Pookutty (film sound designer and Academy Award winner), Gurcharan Das (author), Devika Rege (Novelist), Saras Manickam (Malaysian author), Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan (author and translator), Mani Shankar Aiyar (politician), Barkha Dutt (journalist), Prakash Raj (actor and politician), Kanan Gill (stand-up comedian and actor), Bachi Karkaria (journalist and columnist), Preeti Shenoy (author and Blogger), Mugdha Sinha (Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Culture), Prahlad Kakkar (advertisement professional), Durjoy Datta (novelist and screenwriter), Shashi Tharoor (politician), Anita Nair (author), Abraham Verghese (American physician and author), and Francesc Miralles (author), among others.

The list also includes Kailash Sathyarthi (Nobel Peace Laureate), Charu Nivedita (author), T.M. Krishna (vocalist, activist, and author), Suraj Yengde (columnist and author), and K.K. Shailaja (Kerala MLA). Turkey will be celebrating its 100 years of the republic at KLF 2024 and will be represented through music, dance, food, and various art forms. The UK, Wales, Japan, USA, Malaysia, Spain, and France will be the other participating countries. The festival will feature 400+ global speakers.

KLF will also witness the performance of Sufi dancers from Konya, the home of Rumi.

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Arts & Culture Kerala Lite Blogs

KLF 2024: A Literary Extravaganza with Global Icons

This edition of KLF will feature Turkey as the guest country of honor, featuring its literature and art forms. The UK, Wales, Spain, Japan, USA, Malaysia, Spain, and France will be the other participating countries…reports Asian Lite News

The seventh edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) is all set to begin from 11 – 14 January 2024 on the beaches of Kozhikode. With a half-million-footfall, KLF has become Asia’s Largest Literature Festival today. Organized by DC Kizhakemuri Foundation and co-promoted by DC Books, KLF 2024 will feature Nobel laureates, Booker Prize winners, literary luminaries, media personalities, and celebrities. Renowned Writer, Prof. K Satchidanandan is the Festival Director.

Kozhikode, the venue of choice for the Kerala Literature Festival was named the ‘City of Literature’ by the Unesco Creative Cities Network (UCCN), making it the first such city in India. Spanning four days, in six venues at the Kozhikode beach in Kerala, the festival will feature 400+ global speakers and will be inaugurated by the state Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan.

This edition of KLF will feature Turkey as the guest country of honor, featuring its literature and art forms. The UK, Wales, Spain, Japan, USA, Malaysia, Spain, and France will be the other participating countries.  

The initial list of speakers includes Arundhati Roy, Mallika Sarabhai, Shashi Tharoor, Piyush Pandey, Prahlad Kakkar, William Dalrymple, Gurucharan Das, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Catherine Ann Jones, Monika Halan, Durjoy Dutta, Manu S Pillai. The Festival will also host concerts by TM Krishna and Vikku Vinayakram; Surbahar and Sitar concert by Padmabhushan Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee.

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Lite Blogs

KLF to be held at Kozhikode beach from Jan 12 to 15

KLF is part of the tourist calendar of the region with participation from across India and from other parts of the world for the four-day event…reports Asian Lite News

The Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), one of Asia’s largest literature festivals, will be held at Kozhikode beach from January 12 to 15. The festival is promoted by DC Kizhakemuri Foundation and supported by the state government.

Poet and critic, K. Sachidanandan will be the Festival Director and speakers include Nobel laureates, Jnanpith winners, Oscar winners, Booker Prize recipients, film and theatre personalities, performers and artists, designers, and diplomats.

KLF is part of the tourist calendar of the region with participation from across India and from other parts of the world for the four-day event.

With an aggregate footfall of more than 3 lakh, KLF combines literary and popular cultures.

The sixth edition will have over 400 speakers including the likes of Jeffrey Archer, Abhijit Banerjee, Nastasia Cheyenne Olivier, Ada Yonath, Arundhati Roy, Orhan Pamuk, Francesc Miralles, Geethanjali Shree, Wendy Doniger, Ramachandra Guha, Palanivel Thiagarajan, Sanjeev Sanyal, Piyush Pandey, Shashi Tharoor, Prakash Raj, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Shobhaa De, Manu S. Pillai, Kapil Sibal, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Faizal Kottikollon, Sudha Murthy, Capt G.R. Gopinath, Meghnad Desai, Tushar Gandhi, Remo Fernandes, Usha Uthup, Yoko Ogawa, Emily Perkins, Jerry Pinto, and P. Sai Nath among others.

The sessions at KLF aim to map literature through discussions on aspects of science & technology, art, cinema, politics, music, environment, literature, the pandemic & its impacts, business & entrepreneurship, health, art & leisure, travel & tourism, gender, economy, culture genomics, history & politics, and various facets that shape human consciousness. Fireside chats at night, music concerts, and classical, theatre, and performing artists will make up the entertainment quotient at the festival.

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Arts & Culture Nepal

KLF to host Int’l literature festival at Kathmandu

The members of both the organisations said the collaboration between them will strengthen cultural dialogue, religious as well as literary perspectives between India and Nepal…reports Asian Lite News

At a meeting between the members of Lunkarandas Gangadevi Chaudhary Sahitya Kala Mandir, Kathmandu, and Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF), Bhubaneswar, it was decided that both the organisations will host an annual International Literature Festival at Kathmandu from 2022 onwards.

Sahitya Kala Mandir President, Basant Choudhary, Vice-President Harihar Sharma, Raman Ghimire, Rajendra Shalabh, Shweta Deepti, Ranjana Niraula and Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Managing Director and Founder of KLF, who went from India to Kathmandu had an elaborate meeting. KLF Coordinator Debashish Samantray was also present.



The members of both the organisations said the collaboration between them will strengthen cultural dialogue, religious as well as literary perspectives between India and Nepal.

Lunkarandas Gangadevi Chaudhary Sahitya Kala Mandir in Nepal has been promoting and honouring eminent creators associated with different regions of Nepal for 28 years, apart from various literary and cultural activities there.

Similarly, KLF is an institution known for honouring and promoting distinguished personalities from different regions of India.

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Arts & Culture Books Lite Blogs

Eminent authors and translators honoured with KLF awards

Padmashree Srinivas Udgata was awarded with Kalinga Literary Award and Arun Kamal was awarded with Kalinga Literary International award…reports Asian Lite News.

Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, business journalist Tamal Bandopadhyay and Bollywood actress Divya Dutta were among others who received awards for their books on the inaugural day of Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) 2021 in the temple city of Bhubaneswar.

For non-fiction category, IANS CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Sandeep Bamzai’s book “Princestan: How Nehru, Patel and Mountbatten Made India” was selected as Book of the Year.

Odisha Tourism Minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi inaugurated the festival. Nepal’s Charge d’affaires Ram Prasad Subedi, Padma Vibhushan Sitakanta Mohapatra, Padma Bhusan Ramakanta Rath graced the inaugural ceremony.

KLF has emerged as one of the leading literary platforms in India, attracting both experienced and young litterateurs. Bigger than ever before, the eighth edition of the festival will bring nationally and internationally acclaimed names on one platform to discuss, debate and explore commonalities in the diverse voices in literature, said Rashmi Ranjan Parida, the founder-director of the festival.

A total of 30 awards were given away to eminent authors and translators of repute by the organisers of the KLF on its eighth edition held here.

Padmashree Srinivas Udgata was awarded with Kalinga Literary Award and Arun Kamal was awarded with Kalinga Literary International award.

Tamal Bandopadhyay was awarded best writer in the Economy category for his book “Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy”.

For the Children’s literature section, Sudha Murty was selected for her book called “Grandparents’ Bag of Stories”.

Bollywood actress Divya Dutta was awarded as the Women Writer during the event.

Former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi was selected for his book on Mahatma Gandhi. Rashid Kidwai’s book “Bharat Ke Pradhan Mantri” was selected for autobiography category.

The three-day extravaganza of literature, art, culture and conversation will feature poetry sessions, panel discussions and talk shows and many more in about 50 sessions.

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