Every year Bhubaneswar comes alive with authors, poets, filmmakers, publishers and literary enthusiasts coming together to celebrate the beauty and power of literature at Odisha Literary Festival. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik supports the festival every year with his presence. The event focuses as much on vernacular literature, poetry and culture, as on books in English. We also have local retailers and big publishing houses setting up book stalls. The event is covered in all 23 editions of The New Indian Express and on television. The details of the previous festivals can be found at www.eventxpress.com
Day 1: November 5
5.00 pm: Opening Keynote Address by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
5.45 pm: Is English really an Indian language? Meenakshi Madhavan Reddy, Nirmal Kanti, Radha Chakravarty, Rakshanda Jalil
6.30 pm: The Muslim Saga: Salman Khurshid and Vikram Sampath in conversation
7.15: Storybaazi by Divya Prakash Dubey
Day 2: November 6
10.30 am: Sports quiz for students. Quizmaster Soumyadip Chowdhury
11.30 am: Is contemporary Odia literature relevant in contemporary India? Devdas Chhotray, Susmita Bagchi, Yashodhara Mishra
12.15: Biographies: Are they Literature or PR? Anirban Ganguly, Gautam Chintamani, Malvika Singh, Manu Pillai
1.15 pm: Lunch
2.15 pm: History: A question of Interpretation: Anirban Ganguly, Burak Akçapar, Samuel Berthet
3.30 pm: Guftagoo with actor-writer Piyush Mishra
4.15 pm: How to market your product and find new takers: Radharani Mitra, Ravinder Singh, VK Karthika
5.15 pm: Is the Mahabharata more relevant than ever today? Bibek Debroy
6.00 pm: Closing Keynote Address by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik