Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival kicks off

This edition of KLF Kathmandu is designed to strengthen the civilizational, cultural, and spiritual dialogue as well as literary perspectives in the South Asian Region, said Rashmi Ranjan Parida, founder and director of Kalinga Literary Festival.

The second Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) kicked off on Friday with the participation of over 400 writers, speakers, poets, and performers, who will participate in over 60 panel discussions and debates. Centred around the theme of ''Shakti, Bhakti, Civilzational connection: Nepal As centre of Global Thought'', the festival was inaugurated by Foreign Minister of Nepal NP Saud. “Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas, which were developed in Nepal and India thousands of years ago have spread light of knowledge to the entire world at a time, when the human beings in other parts of the globe were living in the forests,” Saud said. He emphasised the need for furthering cooperation between Nepal and India which is provided by their common culture, religion, literature and language.

''Buddhism flourished in Nepal had spread to Sri Lanka and Thailand through Odissa of India during the time of Ashoka. This edition of KLF Kathmandu is designed to strengthen the civilizational, cultural, and spiritual dialogue as well as literary perspectives in the South Asian Region,'' said Rashmi Ranjan Parida, founder and director of Kalinga Literary Festival. In the inaugural ceremony the Yashaswi Sahitya Sanman was conferred upon legendary Nepalese writer Dr Madhav Prasad Pokhrel, Indian writer Prof Awadhesh Pradhan and actress-writer Divya Dutta. Over 200 writers from Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka will be joining the festival over the course of three days, including Bibek Debroy, Kanak Mani Dixit, Maya Thakuri, Bhishma Upreti, and Yatish Kumar.

Other noted celebrities to join the festival are actor Manisha Koirala, filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda, sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, classical dancer Aruna Mohanty, and Miss Nepal Srichchha Pradhan, among others.