Ranchi: Tribal poets from Jharkhand drew strong attention at a literary festival held in Bhubaneswar, where they presented their work before a large gathering of writers and scholars. The event brought together more than two hundred poets and authors representing twenty two languages.
The festival was conducted by multilingual poet and translator Dr Sanghamitra Rayguru. Among those present were Odisha Assembly Speaker Surma Padhi, Sahitya Akademi secretary K Srinivas Rao, linguist Padma Shri Devi Prasanna Pattnaik and critic Praful Mahanti.
The Parichay Literary Festival ran from 15 to 17 November. Dr Rayguru’s initiative ensured the presence of Jharkhand’s tribal voices on a national platform. Poets Netlal Yadav in Khortha, Mahadev Dungariyar in Kurmali and Premchand Oraon in Kurukh took part. Translator Devidatta Sarangi read in English and poet Mukund Ravidas read in Hindi. Several translated works were released, and writers from many linguistic traditions shared their compositions.
The festival was organised under the guidance of Dr Rosalin Pattasani Mishra and Priyadarshi Mishra, and once again underscored the range of Indian literature and its shared cultural ground.