Bhubaneswar: The 7th edition of Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet is back to celebrate literature and allied cultural activities including music and theatre over the weekend of February 03 -05, 2023 at Bhubaneswar Club and will be open to all. The three-day festival was inaugurated by Jnanpith awardee, Amitav Ghosh in the presence of Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Founder-Editor, Sambad, Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel and Malavika Banerjee, Director of Bhubaneswar Literary Meet.
The inauguration was followed by a discussion on a very relevant issue of modern world – The impact of climate changes. Amitav Ghosh shared his concerns on the impact of climate changes in the world today. Former British Museum director and noted anthropologist Richard Blurton presented his book on the history of India through objects, which was followed by an interactive session with eminent dancer Mallika Sarabhai and Bachi Karkaria on her latest novel – In Free Fall. The day ended on discussion over the resurgence of Odia theatre among noted Odia theatre and film personality – Sofia Alam, Panchami Manoo Ukil, grand-daughter of eminent Odia poetess Nirmala Devi and Tanaya Patnaik, Executive Director, Eastern Media Limited discussing the stupendous success of Aahe Nila Shaila.
Over the next two days the festival will host lot of discussion and performing arts. Renowned author know for writing master biographies, Khushwant Singh will take the audience on what factors drive him to write biographies. Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Parthiv Dhar will take about their new book on the biography of Kishore Kumar. Session will be held in remembrance of renowned Odia writer, Jagadish Mohanty who is considered as a trend setter of modern Odia fiction and also the surge of young Odia poets. Anupam Patnaik and Gourahari Das will discuss Odia cinema’s resurgence while focusing on Pratikshya, which was based on Das’Bapa. Young poets Sujit Kumar Satapathy, Sreema Satapathy, Nikhilesh Mishra and Swagatika Mishra will read their poetry. Jerry Pinto will speak about his new book. Noted film personalities, Pankaj Kapur and Supriya Pathak Kapur will share their experience on playing literary characters in films. At the end of the second day there will be sitar recital by Ustad Shujaat Khan at Bhubaneswar Club.
On the concluding day Barry O’ Brien will speak on the history of Anglo-Indians. Sahitya Akademi award winner Monalisa Jena with Paramita Satpathy, Gayatribala Panda and Sakti Mohanty will discuss the journey of Odia literature. Noted columnist Bachi Karkaria and Jatindra Kumar Nayak will discuss the impact of biographies. The festival will come to an end by solo act by Pankaj Kapur titled Dopehari which has been written by him and produced by Supriya Pathak Kapur at Rail Auditorium.
