The second day of the Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet (TSBLM) witnessed a mammoth turnout of students who came in the hundreds to listen to and interact with the iconic authors Mr Manoj Das and Mr Ruskin Bond. During Mr Das’ interactive session with the youngsters, he talked about the importance of understanding the beauty of language and all its nuances. The Padma Shri awardee, whose books in Odia and English highlight the different dimensions of human nature, also impressed upon those gathered the need to be critical in a humane manner.

Mr Bond, whose role in the growth of children’s literature in India remains unmatched, enthralled the audience with anecdotes from his life as a writer. Mr Bond also spoke about the importance of reading and how it frames one’s writing skills – while also pointing out that one should read what they are comfortable with, and not force themselves to read anything they do not enjoy. Always an inspiration to young budding authors, the author asked them to write for the sake of writing, not to see their name on the cover of a book.

The adage “music knows no language” was manifested in a session with Poetry Wales editor Nia Davis and Kannada poet, author and playwright Mamta Sagar. The poets played off each other with Ms Davis reciting in English and Welsh and Ms Sagar in Kannada.

Kiran Nagarkar, whose award-winning books in Marathi and English make him one of the most acclaimed authors and playwrights in postcolonial India, joined Prayaag Akbar, whose debut novel Leila is being recognised for its gripping narrative that speaks directly to the changes in the country’s political and social scenes. Their captivating session explored their visions of dystopias, both present and in the future, and how they have captured them in their works.

The latter half of the days focused on Odia literature and the importance of promoting the Odia language. Linguist and social scientist, Professor DP Pattanayak, Professor Panchanan Mohanty and Sambad Group Executive Director Tanaya Patnaik spoke on how in today’s time, with people using multiple languages to communicate, one’s mother tongue in the language that usually is compromised. The session also explored how the nation is predominantly pluralistic in its use of language, rather than multilingual. Renowned Odiya author Pratibha Satpathy and her daughter, the writer Paramita Satpathy , discussed inheritance of the 'writing gene'.

Find out more about TSBLM here: http://bbsrlitmeet.in/

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2017. It is the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $18.12 billion (INR 117,420 crore) in FY17. Tata Steel Group is spread across five continents with an employee base of nearly 74,000. Having bagged the Deming Application Prize and Deming Grand Prize for continuous improvement in 2008 and 2012 respectively, Tata Steel has now been recognised as the global ‘Industry Leader’ in ‘Steel category’ by Dow Jones Sustainability Index (2015). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel has also been felicitated with several awards including the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2013-14 (received in 2017), Best Risk Management by CNBC TV18 (2016), ‘Best-in-class Manufacturing’ award from TIME India (2016) and the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from the Ethisphere Institute (2016), IIM Sustainability Award (2015), among several others.

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