New Delhi, Sep 5 : The second edition of the Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) concluded in Nepal on September 3.  Foreign Minister of Nepal, Narayan Prakash Saud was the chief guest during the inaugural ceremony held on September 1. Writer and Indian economist, and Chairman of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Economic Advisory Council, Bibek Debroy, Linguistics Madhav Prasad Pokhrel, Chancellor, Nisha Sharma, Surya Nepal MD, Ravi Rayavaram, LIC Nepal, Deputy CEO, Tuntun Burnawal joined as Guests of Honour in the inaugural ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, the minister expressed the hope that the event would play an important role in the exchange of culture in South Asia. "It is a matter of happiness for us that the festival has been organized in Kathmandu putting Nepal at the Centre," he said. The Yashaswi Sahitya Sanman was conferred upon Nepalese writer Madhav Prasad Pokhrel, Indian writer Awadhesh Pradhan, and actress-writer Divya Dutta. Over 400 writers from Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka joined the festival. During the three days, 60 sessions were held simultaneously in two halls of Hotel Himalaya. Ranjana Niraula, director of Surya Nepal Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival, gave her welcome speech and thanked everyone who helped to organise the event successfully. Similarly, speaking about the program, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, the founder of KLF stressed that the edition of KLF Kathmandu was designed to strengthen the civilisational, cultural, and spiritual dialogue as well as literary perspectives in the South Asian Region. The festival will celebrate the journey of Nepal as a center of Global Thought and it has emerged as a center of South Asian Dialogue. Several one-to-one conversations were held with personalities like Manisha Koirala, Bibek Debroy, Divya Dutta, Sudarsan Pattnaik, Nila Madhab Panda, Aruna Mohanty, Abhilipsa Panda. Odissi dancer and Padma Shri Aruna Mohanty performed on the theme of 'Bhumisuta - The Daughter of Earth' and singer Abhilipsa Panda also performed Har Har Sambhu Bhajan. The Yashaswi Book Award was presented to writers of ten books from different genres. The same included Sushant Thapa's 'Minutes of Merit' in poetry, Vivek Ojha's 'Eithan' (novel), Navraj KC's creative non-narrative, 'The Value of Zero', Renuka GC's anthology 'Sunnes', Mahendra Kumar Malla's poetry collection 'Bhasa Ko Vakapatra', Govind Giri Prerna's biography 'Sushri Parijat', Anuradha's 'Chhamchhamko Chhamchmi' in children's literature, Rima KC's 'Selected Poems of Amrita Pritam' in translation literature, Narayan Ghimire's 'Raithane Chad Vad and Khanpan' in Khadhya and Usadhi and English-language memory, Lakpa Dandi Sherpa's 'Himalaya Mervik' won the award. "The next Kathmandu Kalinga Literary Festival will be held on November 23, 24, 2024," said Kalinga Literary Festival, Director, Rashmi Ranjan Parida. /IANS