Kalu Charan Pradhan, a poor carpenter of the Gunthapada village in Ganjam district, who has penned more than 3,000 poems in Odia will receive the ‘Sahitya Charcha’ award for this year.
This award is given every year by the literary journal Sahitya Charcha to an unknown literary talent especially from the rural areas of Odisha. Pradhan is a school dropout and followed his passion in poetry after listening to the recitation of a verse of the medieval poet Kabisurya Baladev Rath once on the stage near his village. He got an inspiration to write poems on his own.
A long verse titled ‘Kardam Kanya’ which is based on the Rushikulya river is one of his outstanding poems. None of his poems has been published so far. One of his unpublished books will also be taken up for publication as a part of the award. The award also includes a citation along with an award money of Rs 10,000. Last year the Sahitya Charcha award went to Kailash Chandra Patra, a rickshaw puller of the Korabandi village in Jajpur district who has written more than 6,000 Odia poems.
