Bhubaneswar, June 4: Writers, poets and literary experts of national and international repute will share their experiences, discuss and deliberate on the role of literature in peace at the fourth Kalinga Literary Festival, to begin on June 10.

The three-day festival will cover several dimensions of the interconnection between literature, peace and harmony. Among others, spiritual leaders, peace activists, war veterans, experts in conflict management and global development, including international book prize awardees, will arrive in Bhubaneswar for the fest. Eminent writers Kedarnath Singh and H.S. Shivprakash will join the discussion on the inaugural day.

The key sessions will be on topics such as the resurgence of nationalism, literature beyond class privilege, democracy in the age of social media, branding of Odia literature beyond classical status, Indian films and the grassroots reality, and a number of issues surrounding youth, women, sports, folk and regional literature. Around 20 books will be released during the event. A number of Odia writers, including Ramakant Rath, Sitakanta Mohapatra, Paramita Satapathy, Kedar Mishra, Jatin Nayak and Jayanta Mohapatra, will also attend the festival.

From this year, the lit fest organisers have introduced two awards - the Kalinga International Literary Award and the Kalinga International Book Award - that recognise literary achievements.

The international literary award is a lifetime achievement award intended to select a few leading names, both at senior and youth levels, who have inspired in their contribution to literature. The festival organisers have encouraged everyone to apply or nominate and importance would be given to works related to development of peace and harmony.

The international book award will be conferred on fiction and non-fiction writers for their works that focus on stories and developments.

Highlighting the need to go international, festival founder Rashmi Ranjan Parida said: "Three years of Kalinga Literary Festival have seen great voices in literature. This year, we got several suggestions to expand the festival to reach out to global voices. This certainly will add great value to the event and inspire our young writers."A poetry session involving 50 poets and an art camp with 35 artists will also be held during the course of the festival.