Bhubaneswar, July 7: Eminent personalities of Odia literature today gathered to pay their tributes to litterateur Mohapatra Nilamani Sahu, who passed away on June 25.

The memorial service was organised by Odia Bhasa Surakshya Sammilani.

Sitakant Mohapatra said: "Sahu was more popular for his stories than his novels. His storytelling is a class on its own that no one can replicate."

Sammilani vice-president Nityananda Satpathy said: "Sahu continued to write till his last breath."

Writers Satkadi Hota and Debi Prasanna Patnaik, ex-minister Panchanan Kanungo, and former speaker Sarat Kar also remembered Sahu's contribution to literature.