Bhubaneswar: Storytelling sessions will now be a part of the upcoming Hockey World Cup. The project - BhuFeSto- Bhubaneswar Festival of International Storytelling - will be a part of a city festival to be hosted during the international event.

City-based Bakul Foundation will curate it in collaboration with Bhubaneswar Development Authority and will feature the best storytellers and folk musicians from the participating countries in the world cup. It will also have the best of storytellers from India and Odisha.

The event will be hosted from December 6 to 10 and it will be conducted simultaneously at three locations across the city - Buddha Jayanti Park in Chandrasekharpur, IG Park in the City Centre and Kalabhoomi or Madhusudan Park in Pokhariput area.

"BhuFeSto is being planned as a regular annual event of Bhubaneswar. It aims to be the biggest storytelling festival in the country and one of the most popular such event in the world," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Since, festivals create a brand for a city such as the literature festival has done for Jaipur and the art biennale for Kochi and the film festival for Cannes, BhuFeSto similarly aims to create a brand for the city by making it the biggest and best such event in the country. Moreover, BhuFeSto also will be an attraction for children and families who will travel to Bhubaneswar for the festival and the World Cup.

Open parks were chosen so that many people can take part in these sessions and the parks will also be developed through art installations into theme parks. There will be about 20 storytellers, including about six of the best storytellers and folk musicians in the world from among the participating countries of the world cup such as Australia, South Africa, Netherlands, Argentina and Malaysia.

"The major focus will be on children, there will be many sessions targeting adult audience such as those conducted by Neelesh Mishra on radio," said Sujit Mahapatra from Bakul Foundation. There will be an elaborate outreach programme in the city a month before the festival in which storytellers will be going to schools and conducting sessions to introduce children to the beauty of the world of stories.