Eminent literary figures of Odisha at Bhubaneswar Literature Festival. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 30: A book reading session of seven popular classics of the world was one of the main highlights of the third edition of the Bhubaneswar Literature Festival that was held yesterday in the city.

Excerpts from the classics were presented in a theatrical format by 10 students of Utkal University under the guidance of their professor Himanshu Mohapatra.

The book reading session was part of a programme Prism of World Literature that kick started the second session of the day. Eminent litterateurs of the state conducted discussion sessions on the during the programme.

The classics included novels by Italian writer Dante, dramatist Shakespeare and French philosopher Sartre among others. Fakirmohan Senapati’s novel Lachhama depicting the autocracy of the Marathi rulers in Odisha was also discussed.

“It was a good learning experience. Seeing the way students depicted the classics in a theatrical style was just incredible,” said Sudha, a young literature lover attending the event.

Organised by Tefla’s, the festival provided literature lovers an opportunity to interact with writers and presented an intellectually stimulating event.

“We thought that a book reading session in presence of prominent writers would help the youngsters understand the inner meaning of the classics and it got good response. A classic is known by its timeless relevance and therefore involving them in a lit fest is imperative,” said Kailash Singh from Tefla’s.

Spotlight was also on the staging of a play by the students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Around 15 students from the institute presented a theatrical rendition of Premchand’s Bade Bhai Saheb.

During the inaugural session writer Manoj Das delivered the keynote address on the topic ‘The quest eternal and literature today’. His speech was followed by petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan delivering the inaugural address.

The first session witnessed writers such as Madhu Kishwar, Manju Kak, Pratibha Ray, Yashodhara Mishra discussing the concept of feminism, whether it’s an imported ideology or a universal tool to combat discrimination.

Another session included linguists and littérateurs such as Debi Prasanna Patnaik, Pratibha Satpathy and Sitakant Mohapatra talking over the future prospects of Odia language. The speakers in the session ‘Digahara Odia Bhasha’ discussed about how Odia language that got classical status in the near past has been at the crossroads. In the concluding session, writers like Ramendra Kumar, Vikram Sampath, Haraprasad Das, Satyarth Nayak, Paramita satpathy discussed about various forms of manifestation other than literature like art and drama.

Brand specialist Harish Bijoor spoke on various aspects of branding and how to build it up perfectly through “Branding: We have gone too far! Let’s clean it up’. Besides the issues of Kashmir people was also heard here through Maroof Raza. Odia translations of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis by S.P. Das and Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illyich by Rabindra Nayak were also released on the occasion.