Acclaimed writer Prof. Beena Poudyal conferred with Kalinga International Literary Award

Kathmandu: Nepalese writer Prof. Beena Poudyal conferred with the Kalinga International Literary Award for her contribution to literature, art and Culture.  Prof. Beena Poudyal received the awards from the legendary writer, Padma Vibhushan Sitakanta Mahapatra and  noted writer  Amish Tripathi  at the inaugural ceremony of the 10th Kalinga Literary Festival at Bhubaneswar, Odisha of India on February 9, 2024.

Professor Bina Paudyal

Professor Bina Paudyal, Born in Bikram Sambat 2013, in Kupandol. She lives in Kathmandu, Nepal, she has done her PhD from Banaras Hindu Vishwa Vidyalaya. She is former Head of Department, Professor – Central Department, History, Culture and Archeology of Nepal, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur. She is professional training instructor. She has been honored and rewarded by many organizations in the country and abroad. Forty years of teaching, researching, & administrative responsibility and she have published more than 100 research articles so far in the field of culture 19 books, including the history of Nepalis culture.

All four Kalinga Literary Awards for the year 2024 have gone to women writers, informed Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Founder and Director, Kalinga Literary Festival.  Kalinga Literary Awards conferred on Hindi Novelist Nasira Sharma and Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri, former assistant secretary-general at the United Nations, Diplomat, writer, novelist and culture while young writer Radhika Iyengar received the Kalinga Literary Award (Youth).

It should be noted that six Nepali writers joined as speakers at the Kalinga Literary Festival in India. Nepalese literary figure and academic Dr. Beena Poudyal joined the festival as guest of Honour and speaker. Noted public intellectual, former international civil servant, bureaucrat, diplomat Bishow Parajuli, Writer Kalpna Parajuli, noted poet, writer Ranjana Niraula, promising author Sumit Sharma Sameer, writer and journalist Sampada Malla  joined the festival as speakers. Writers from Nepal joined over 12 sessions in the 3 days grand festival. Noted poet Ranjana Niraula recited her poems.

The festival was held from February 9 to 11 in Bhubaneswar and hosted over 400 speakers from across a vast array of nationalities. It will feature a range of themes including the ongoing climate justice debate under the urgency of borrowed time theme; the great women writers and artists focusing on the female voice and identity, crime fiction, memoir, translation, poetry, economics, tech morality, and Artificial Intelligence, the global crisis, cutting-edge science, India and the World, art and photography, health and medicine, amongst others.