Eight Nepali writers joining Kalinga LitFest in India

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 8: Eight writers from Nepal are participating in the Kalinga Literary Festival-2026 to be held in the Indian state of Odisha from January 8 to 11. 

Nepali billionaire Binod Chaudhary will participate in the festival as an honoured guest and speaker.

Likewise, writers Dhirendra Premarshi, Rohini Rana, Ranjana Niraula, Suman Barsha, Rupa Jha, Kewora Bhattarai and Birat Anupam will take part in the festival as speakers.

Nepali writers will participate in more than 10 sessions across various global literary panels. Two of the sessions will be especially dedicated to the Nepali language, Ranjana Niraula, one of the participants informed.

Chaudhary’s latest book, 'Made in Nepal: Lessons in Business Building from the Land of Everest,' will be launched at the opening ceremony of the 12th Kalinga Literary Festival.

Published by Harper Business India, the new book focuses on building businesses in Nepal, sharing insights on resilience and global expansion, and chronicles the creation of the global success story of Wai Wai noodles.

The book also offers readers insights into Chaudhary’s political engagements, his succession plans, and how he envisions the future of his business empire, which he describes as a product of both love and a lifetime of hard work.

The festival is set to be held at the Mayfair Convention Centre in the temple city of Bhubaneswar. According to the organisers, the literary event will showcase a splendid spectrum of linguistic diversity, with representation from 10 countries and more than 25 languages.

The festival will host over 500 speakers from a wide range of nationalities, including recipients of major honours such as the Sahitya Akademi Award. 

It is said that the programme will explore diverse themes, including climate justice under the urgency of borrowed time; women’s writing and art with a focus on female voice and identity; crime fiction, memoir, translation, poetry, economics, tech ethics and artificial intelligence, the global crisis, cutting-edge science, India and the world, art and photography, and health and medicine.

The organiser has claimed that the festival’s theme 'Literature and the World: Inclusion, Identity, and Belonging' resonates through the voices of more than 500 distinguished speakers, including poets, musicians, artists, and performers.