Second edition of Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival to start on September 1

Kathmandu [Nepal], August 19 : The second edition of the Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival will start on September 1 and run for three days in total, the organizers announced on Saturday.
Issuing a press release, the Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) announced the commencement of Kathmandu KLF which is set to be attended by over 400 writers from South Asia.
The central Theme for the latest edition of the festival will be "Shakti and Bhakti, the Civilizational Connection: Nepal as a Centre of Global Thought” as per the organizers.
The annual Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) is one of the leading Literary festivals in the World from India. In Nepal, the KLF this year is holding a literary event in association with Yashaswi Prangya Pratisthan, and the Himalayan Diary Pvt Ltd.
“The 2nd Surya Nepal Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival will showcase literature, music, dance, poetry, and other art forms of South Asia. The KLF Kathmandu’s this edition is designed to strengthen the civilizational, cultural, and spiritual dialogue as well as literary perspectives in the South Asian Region. The festival will celebrate the journey of Nepal as a centre of Global Thought and it has emerged as a centre of South Asian Dialogue,” said KLF Founder and Director, Rashmi Ranjan Parida.
As per the organizers, dozens of sessions will be conducted in the three days festival covering all aspects of life.
As per the release, there will be sessions on topics related to women, media and entertainment, journalism, art, AI, cinema, democracy, South Asia, Spirituality, Culture, Tourism etc.
In the second edition of the festival Padma Shri Haldhar Nag, Bibek Debroy, actress and writer Divya Dutta, Deepti Naval, Padma Shri Sudarshan Patnaik, Padma Shri Nila Madav Panda, Padma Shri Aruna Mohanty, Singer Abhilipsa Panda, former Ambassador Ranjit Rae, publisher Milee Ashwariya, Volga, Kanishk Gupta, Vandana Rag, Prof. Abdesh Pradhan, Yatish Kumar, Satyanand Nirupam, Adashya Dash, Lalit Dash, Kamala Kanta Dash, Kedar Mishra from India will join the festival.
From Nepal Legendary actress Manisha Koirala, writers and noted poet and folklore expert Tulasi Diwasa, Jagman Gurung, Ashesh Malla, SJB. Rana, Bishow Parajuli, CK Lal, Acclaimed writer and Journalist Kanak Mani Dixit, Rajendra Bimal, Usha Thakur, Prof. Abhi Subedi, Prof. Beena Paudel, Om Shrestha, Gajendra Budhathoki, Mahesh Bikram Shah, Aarti Chataut, Yubika Bhandari, Rohini Rana, Thomas Bell, Sucheta Pyakuryal, Rajani Dhakal, Bindu Sharma along with dozens other will be joining the festival.
Rinjhin Rinjhin, from Bhutan, Chamal Sanjeewa, from Sri Lanka, and Ashraf Jewel from Bangladesh will join this year's Kathmandu KLF as speakers.
“Like the Frist Edition of Kathmandu- KLF, in our 2nd edition we are planning to celebrate the great Literary, Spiritual, and Cultural Traditions of Nepal and reflect on the Journey of Nepal as a Centre of Global Thought. The festival will have several panel discussions on literature, art, culture, and history, and showcase artistic traditions from the South Asian Region, in addition to the world of Nepalese and Indian arts and music,” said Ranjana Niraula, KLF-Kathmandu, Director and Founding Member.
“From this edition, Kathmandu-Kalinga Literary Festival introduces Yashaswi Book Awards to 15 writers in 15 categories. The awards are given in various categories including fiction and non-fiction books, poetry, books in translation, business and strategic affairs books, environmental books, biographical and autobiographical books, children's books, sports, lifestyle and emerging trend books. Nepal Yashaswi Book Awards, established by Kathmandu-KLF opens up the opportunities to identify, recognize, acknowledge, encourage and honour the literary talents across genres, for both established and new writers. The objective has been to shape the future literary icons,” Niraula added.
The festival will focus on Spirituality, Art, culture, Shiv Tatwa, Ram Katha, Buddha, and the Promotion of Nepal and India's historical relationship-Pashupatinath to Puri, Kashi to Kathmandu, Bodhgaya to Boudhanath, From Lumbini to Lal Ded and other fruitful ties that have existed for many epochs.  These are the mainstream and the marginalized cultures of two vibrant nations on the march.