hubaneswar, April 26: The fourth edition of the Kalinga Literary Festival will witness writers of national and international fame as well as poets and literary experts sharing their experience, discussing and deliberating on the role of literature in peace and harmony.

Eminent spiritual leaders, peace activists, war veterans, experts in conflict management and global development including international book prize awardees will take part in the event to celebrate the role of literature.

Canadian short story writer and Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro, leading poet and playwright writing in Kannada H.S. Shivaprakash, artist, publisher and Indian writer and publisher Namita Gokhale and eminent writer on spirituality and culture Arundhathi Subramaniam will attend the festival.

A number of Odia writers will also attend the festival such as Subhas Pani, Sitakanta Mohapatra, Pratibha Ray, Haraprasad Dash, Jayanta Mohapatra, Jatin Nayak, Sumanyu Satpathy, Ramakanta Rath and Devdas Chhotray among others.

"Around 20 sessions will be hosted during the festival along with the launch of around 20 books. A special poetry reading session featuring 50 poets will also feature in the festival," added the founder of the festival, Rashmi Ranjan Parida.

Other writers to take part in the festival include Amarendra Khatua, Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, Gourhari Das, Haldhar Nag and Paramita Satapathy among others.

Writers and personalities from diverse professions such as Jerry Pinto, Piyush Mishra, Rahul Pandita, Rajendra P. Gupta, Satyanand Nirupam and Novoneel Chakraborty will also share their opinions.

The festival will be hosted at Hotel Mayfair from June 10 to 12. This year the festival will be the launch pad of the Kalinga International Literary Award and Kalinga International Book Awards.

The Kalinga International Literary Award is a lifetime achievement award intended to select a few leading names both at the senior and youth levels who have made an inspiring contribution to literature.

Everyone is encouraged to apply or nominate a writer. The award's focus is to highlight works related to development of peace and harmony.

The Kalinga International Book Award will be conferred on fiction and non-fiction writers for their books that have focused on stories and developments. The book should have been published in 2015 and 2016.

Highlighting the need to go international, Parida said: "Three years of Kalinga Literary Festival have seen great voices in literature. This year we have received several suggestions to expand the festival to reach out to global voices. This certainly will be of great value for our young writers."