Four books, including two masterpieces of noted poet Gangadhar Mishra, The Fire in the Wings and The Third Eye, a Biannual journal of literary and cultural studies, were unveiled at a function held here on Sunday.
The two other books launched on the occasion are The Exegete, a collection of critical essays, and Penelope’s Web.
Odisha Sahitya Akademi Secretary Aswini Kumar Mishra presided over the function. Besides, Prof Dr Mahajiteswar Das, Prof Dr Debendra Ray, Prof Dr Soubhagya Mishra and Prof Jitendra Narayan Patnaik joined the event as guests of honour and released the four books.
Attending the event as chief guest, Dr Shantanu Kumar Acharya said besides their own lives and interest, litterateurs should take care of the interest of the masses while writing manuscripts.
Expressing concern over the declining interest towards literature, Prof Acharya said, “In today’s digital and internet age, the young mass is hardly reading literature books. It downsizes the youth readers’ count for literature”
Besides, the guests also called upon poets and litterateurs to make relentless efforts and write in such a way that the young mass takes interest in reading books.