The fourth edition of the Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet (TSBLM) was inaugurated here on Friday by poet Jayanta Mahapatra in presence of president TQM and Steel Business, Tata Steel, Anand Sen, vice president, Corporate Services, Chanakya Chaudhary and MP and editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik.
Mahapatra talked about how literature is becoming more accessible in the digital age. He encouraged budding authors to draw inspiration from the adversities they face and use the technology now available to them to their advantage to express creativity and imagination.
The inaugural session of the festival, being held at the Xavier Institute of Management, saw celebrated historian Sugata Bose discuss Mahatma Gandhi’s relationship with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
This was followed by a session with legendary actress Waheeda Rehman who mesmerised the audience as she reminisced on her portrayal of iconic literary characters on screen.
The eventful day concluded on a lighter note with a stand-up performance by acclaimed comedian Abijit Ganguly.
Participants at this year’s literary meet include legendary writer Ruskin Bond and acclaimed singer Rekha Bhardwaj. Other speakers of note are Ravinder Singh, Vineet Bajpai, AatishTaseer, Jayant Kripalani, Bikram Grewal, Nicholas James, Nabina Das, Sucheta Mishra,Ileana Citaristi, Mitra Phukan, Kishwar Desai, Charles Assisi, NS Ramnath, Prajwal Parajuly, Debashish Panigrahi, Hussain Haidry, Pritish Acharya, Dash Benhur and Ananta Mahapatra, among others.