Geetanjali Shree, Dr. Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi to be conferred with Kalinga Literary Awards-2023

Bhubaneswar: The prestigious Kalinga Literary Awards for the year 2023 will be conferred on eminent Hindi Novelist Geetnjali Shree and educationist, screenplay writer, playwright, art critic, and theatre director Dr. Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi. Penguin Random House and Rajkamal Prakashan will get the Publishing House of the Year Award. This was informed by the Kalinga Literary Festival, Founder and Director Rashmi Ranjan Parida.

Kalinga International Literary Award (English & Hindi language) will be presented to novelist Geetanjali Shree and
Kalinga Literary Award (Odia) will be presented to Dr. Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi.

The awards was instituted by Kalinga Literary Festival in 2013 in three categories. From this year Kalinga Literary Festival will provide a Rs 1 lakh award prize for the Kalinga International Literary Award winner and Rs 50,000 for the Kalinga Literary Award winner. The award will also carry a trophy and citation. The award will be conferred on the winners at the inaugural ceremony of the 9th Kalinga Literary Festival on 24th February at Swosti Premium in Bhubaneswar.

Dr. Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi is an academician, playwright, theatre director, lyricist, theatre scholar, screenplay writer and art critic. Educationist, screenplay writer, playwright, art critic, and theatre director rolled into one, Dr. Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi is a living legend in the world of Odia drama with 83 plays beside a number of books in English on art and culture of Odisha in his ensemble. Dr. Panigrahi, a Professor of English literature by profession and a playwright by passion, takes his audience on a rollercoaster ride to an exotic arena where he listens to new music of consciousness.

Geetanjali Shree is an Indian Hindi-language novelist and short-story writer based in New Delhi. She is the author of several short stories and five novels. Her novel Mai was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2001, while its English translation by Nita Kumar was published by Niyogi Books in 2017. In 2022, her novel Ret Samadhi (2018), translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell, won the International Booker Prize. Besides fiction, she has written critical works on Premchand. She is the author of three novels and several story collections, and her work has been translated into English, French, German, Serbian and Korean.

The annual festival is all set to run for three days from 24th February. Marking its ninth year, the festival will showcase a powerhouse of writers, speakers, thinkers, and humanitarians from all walks of life.