A book release ceremony of 'The Village Poet & Other Stories' written by Dr Manoranjan Behura, Lecturer in English, Mahanga Puspagiri, Mahavidyalaya, Erkana, Cuttack, was held here on August 2.
While Dr Bijayanda Singh, convener of Kendriya Sahitya Akademi chaired, Prof Jatindra Kumar Nayak inaugurated the function and emphasized on writing about local culture and tradition which could make a writer successful.
Academi awardee Gourahari Das joined as chief speaker and critically analyzed the book comparing with other stories.
Poet, critic and writer Sangram Jena spoke on the occasion, while Dr Tapana Panda and Saroj Mishra reviewed the story book Dr Sidhartha Sekhar Mohapatra gave votes of thanks. Among others, Ajaya Acharya, Jayanti Singh, Chitralekha Mohanty, and Sanjib Mohanty spoke.