Kathmandu: Five Nepali writers to join as speakers at the Kalinga Literary Festival in India. Nepalese literary figure and academic Dr. Beena Poudyal will join 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 will join the festival as speakers.
Noted writer and academic Dr. Beena Poudyal will receive the prestigious Kalinga International Literary Award on this occasion.
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.
Bishow Parajuli
Mr. Bishow Parajuli brings 40 years of distinguished experiences in development, humanitarian affairs, diplomacy, fund raising, and management in several countries in Asia, Middle East and Africa, including WFP Headquarters in Rome as Chief of Staff and Director, Resource Mobilization and Government Relations. Mr Parajuli, served for slightly over three years as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director to India from 1st September 2019 to 30th Nov 2022. As the WFP Rep / Country Director in India, Mr Parajuli led WFP’s Innovative Partnership with the GOI, the State Govt and other institutions to improve food and nutrition security and adaptation of the food system to climate change. He helped expand cooperation between WFP and GOI to improve global food and nutrition security with south-south cooperation. He played a key role in expanding cooperation and partnership with the Private sector, academics, research organisations and mobilised funds from India and regularly engaged in various talks and training programmes. He promoted broader cooperation between GOI and WFP in addressing global hunger, with expanded support from India.
Ranjana Niraula
Noted poet, writer Ranjana Niraula is a multifaceted personality from Nepal who juggles multiple roles in her daily life with equal panache. From being a popular poet in Nepali and English literature with a penchant to weave magic with her beautiful words and pictures to being a poet, editor, panelist, researcher, philanthropist, Academic, humanist, literary critics, curator to being a speaker, she handles each role with élan and confidence with a sole motive to excel and live up to the high expectations from her legions of fans spread across Nepal as well as the Subcontinent. She received KLF Book Awards for her Nepali book “Anubhuti Ka Abataran”. Her new English poetry book “The Rhythm of Pain” to be officially launched during the festival.
Sampada Malla
Sampada Malla is a Nepalese media personality, writer, film maker and journalist working in Nepal and India. She serves as the board director and creative director of Sarwanam Theatre Group, the leading theatre group of Nepal.
Sumit Sharma Sameer
Sumit Sharma Sameer is an author and a podcaster from Kathmandu, Nepal. He has over two decades of experience working with a range of national and international non-government organizations. He obtained his double master’s degree from two esteemed institutions: the London School of Economics, UK and Queen’s University, Canada. He is a distinguished Kassel School fellow and was honoured with the Star of Loyola upon completing his undergraduate studies at Loyola College, Chennai, India. His first work of fiction, ‘Wake Up Ali…Wake Up Now’ was honoured with a KLF Book award in 2022 in the debut fiction category in India.
The annual iconic Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) is all set to run from 9th – 11th February in the temple city of Bhubaneswar at Swosti Premium Hotel. Marking its tenth year, the festival will showcase a powerhouse of writers, speakers, thinkers, and humanitarians from all walks of life. The literary extravaganza will see a spectacular range of language diversity in the program, represented by 10 countries and over 25 languages.
For its 2024 edition, the festival will host over 400 speakers from across a vast array of nationalities, as well as recipients of major awards such as the Sahitya Akademi, and many more. 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.
Kalinga Literary Festival is well known for its socially relevant themes and in a way compels all ‘creative’ people to think and articulate ‘the contemporary’. Like its past editions the KLF, this year also has a hard-hitting theme for writers, poets, and artists to ponder on. It should be noted that on February 9-11, 2024 – The temple city of Bhubaneswar is poised to unfurl the timeless sagas of “Legends of Ancient Bharat and Beyond: Inspiring Lived Experience in the 21st Century.” Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) is humbly set to embark on its 10th edition, knitting together a mosaic of diverse literary forms ranging from poetry and politics to art and athletics. The Festival’s beating heart, themed “Legends of Ancient Bharat and Beyond,” will pulse with the collective rhythm of over 400 esteemed speakers, including poets, musicians, artists, and performers. In a reverent celebration of our shared heritage, the festival aims to rekindle the flame of inspiration from our ancestors’ wisdom, demonstrating its profound relevance in today’s world.