Odisha Literary Festival off to a blazing begin

Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The eleventh version of the Odisha Literary Festival acquired off to a blazing begin as acclaimed authors from throughout genres and completely different elements of the nation got here collectively to have fun the written phrase right here on Saturday.

The two-day annual literary pageant — the only-of-its-kind in Eastern India hosted by The New Indian Express — was inaugurated by Union Minister for Education and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan. Speaking on the inaugural night, Pradhan in his session ‘Words, Ideas and Lessons: Creating a New Sense of Identity’ mentioned the opposition to the three-language coverage particularly in Tamil Nadu is solely political.

“While the opposition to NEP in Tamil Nadu is for political reasons, in my view, there is unanimity at the ground level that there should be scientific temper for the students and language should not be a barrier,” he mentioned in a free-wheeling chat with TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla.Refuting allegations that folks with RSS ideology are being drafted in to move high establishments within the nation, the Union minister mentioned all appointments are made on benefit. He, nonetheless, maintained that there isn’t any bar within the Constitution on appointing individuals with RSS affiliation.

Introducing the pageant, TNIE Editor Santwana Bhattacharya mentioned it stands for all the things TNIE stands for — a decentering of energy, and the thought of getting near the actual lifetime of India on the bottom. “Here, we celebrate books — the power of word, of ideas and expression. More potent than any weapon of destruction, more enduring than anything built as a form of physical destruction,” she mentioned.Speaking concerning the theme of pageant, ‘The Ideas of Identity’, TNIE’s Odisha Resident Editor Siba Mohanty mentioned id — be it nationwide, cultural, caste, class, gender or ethnicity — has assumed centrestage.

“The literary trends are not untouched too with an increasing readers’ interest in history, memoirs, biographies and true account non-fiction. Thus, discussions around the ‘ideas of identity’ will be aptly in tune with the prevailing times,” Mohanty mentioned.

A particular tribute was paid to legendary poet Jayanta Mahapatra, who handed away just lately. Speakers Prof Sachidananda Mohanty and poet Sampurna Chattarji mentioned Mahapatra was a real genius, a citizen of the world. “Someone who came from a small town to become someone who rubbed shoulders with great poets like A K Ramanujan speaks about the efforts he made to become someone so outstanding in his craft,” they mentioned. A documentary on Mahapatra was additionally screened.

The tribute was adopted by a session on ‘A Life in Full: Diplomat, Politician, Author, Peacemaker’, which was helmed by former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. Maintaining that there’s nothing new within the stance of the DMK about Sanatana Dharma, Aiyar advised pageant director and senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai, if the Centre continues to offer significance to such concepts, it should result in a really harmful scenario.

“If Dravidians are continued to be provoked, the east, west and south of the country will be in danger. There is nothing new in the stance of the Dravidian party as they are stating this for years,” he said. In his session, filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda mentioned he began his journey as a director with an purpose to alter the picture of Odisha that was earlier termed because the poorest state within the nation. While authors Nivedita Mohanty, Gourahari Das and Abhiram Biswal spoke to journalist Sampad Patnaik about nationalism in Odia literature in his session titled ‘Crime Friction: The Irresistible Lure of the Dark’, crime author Surendra Mohan Pathak spoke concerning the challenges of writing crime fiction in a rustic like India, the place it doesn’t derive as a lot reputation because it does within the West.

He admitted that recognition takes time. To a question if crime fiction will get sidelined in at the moment’s OTT period, Pathak mentioned each OTT exhibits and fiction draw inspiration from the identical supply – crime in actual life. “Originality is the art of concealing the source,” he mentioned. Scientist and author Anand Ranganathan and economistauthor Parakala Prabhakar of their session ‘The New India Project: Crooked Timber or Iron Rich,’ engaged in a riveting debate on the present scenario of the nation.

BHUBANESWAR: The eleventh version of the Odisha Literary Festival acquired off to a blazing begin as acclaimed authors from throughout genres and completely different elements of the nation got here collectively to have fun the written phrase right here on Saturday.

The two-day annual literary pageant — the only-of-its-kind in Eastern India hosted by The New Indian Express — was inaugurated by Union Minister for Education and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan. Speaking on the inaugural night, Pradhan in his session ‘Words, Ideas and Lessons: Creating a New Sense of Identity’ mentioned the opposition to the three-language coverage particularly in Tamil Nadu is solely political.

“While the opposition to NEP in Tamil Nadu is for political reasons, in my view, there is unanimity at the ground level that there should be scientific temper for the students and language should not be a barrier,” he mentioned in a free-wheeling chat with TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla.Refuting allegations that folks with RSS ideology are being drafted in to move high establishments within the nation, the Union minister mentioned all appointments are made on benefit. He, nonetheless, maintained that there isn’t any bar within the Constitution on appointing individuals with RSS affiliation.googletag.cmd.push(operate() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Introducing the pageant, TNIE Editor Santwana Bhattacharya mentioned it stands for all the things TNIE stands for — a decentering of energy, and the thought of getting near the actual lifetime of India on the bottom. “Here, we celebrate books — the power of word, of ideas and expression. More potent than any weapon of destruction, more enduring than anything built as a form of physical destruction,” she mentioned.Speaking concerning the theme of pageant, ‘The Ideas of Identity’, TNIE’s Odisha Resident Editor Siba Mohanty mentioned id — be it nationwide, cultural, caste, class, gender or ethnicity — has assumed centrestage.

“The literary trends are not untouched too with an increasing readers’ interest in history, memoirs, biographies and true account non-fiction. Thus, discussions around the ‘ideas of identity’ will be aptly in tune with the prevailing times,” Mohanty mentioned.

A particular tribute was paid to legendary poet Jayanta Mahapatra, who handed away just lately. Speakers Prof Sachidananda Mohanty and poet Sampurna Chattarji mentioned Mahapatra was a real genius, a citizen of the world. “Someone who came from a small town to become someone who rubbed shoulders with great poets like A K Ramanujan speaks about the efforts he made to become someone so outstanding in his craft,” they mentioned. A documentary on Mahapatra was additionally screened.

The tribute was adopted by a session on ‘A Life in Full: Diplomat, Politician, Author, Peacemaker’, which was helmed by former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. Maintaining that there’s nothing new within the stance of the DMK about Sanatana Dharma, Aiyar advised pageant director and senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai, if the Centre continues to offer significance to such concepts, it should result in a really harmful scenario.

“If Dravidians are continued to be provoked, the east, west and south of the country will be in danger. There is nothing new in the stance of the Dravidian party as they are stating this for years,” he said. In his session, filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda mentioned he began his journey as a director with an purpose to alter the picture of Odisha that was earlier termed because the poorest state within the nation. While authors Nivedita Mohanty, Gourahari Das and Abhiram Biswal spoke to journalist Sampad Patnaik about nationalism in Odia literature in his session titled ‘Crime Friction: The Irresistible Lure of the Dark’, crime author Surendra Mohan Pathak spoke concerning the challenges of writing crime fiction in a rustic like India, the place it doesn’t derive as a lot reputation because it does within the West.

He admitted that recognition takes time. To a question if crime fiction will get sidelined in at the moment’s OTT period, Pathak mentioned each OTT exhibits and fiction draw inspiration from the identical supply – crime in actual life. “Originality is the art of concealing the source,” he mentioned. Scientist and author Anand Ranganathan and economistauthor Parakala Prabhakar of their session ‘The New India Project: Crooked Timber or Iron Rich,’ engaged in a riveting debate on the present scenario of the nation.