New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS): During the recently-concluded eighth edition of Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) held in Bhubaneswar, the festival hosted a group of poets and writers from Jammu and Kashmir who participated in dedicated sessions on the region.

The group included Ghulam Nabi Haleem, Muzzafar Ahmad Parray, Mysar Ahmad Hajam, Roshan Lal, Shalini Rana, Bhagwati Devi, Gurinder Singh (Swami Antar Nirav), Raj Kumar Sharma and Rajinder Kumar.

The founder-director of KLF, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, shared that they planned to put special focus on literature in Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, the KLF Bhava Samvad has started an online series on literature from that region.

He highlighted the importance of literary integration and engagement with literature from there with other Indian language literary traditions through mutual translations and interactions.

The initiative coordinator, Kamala Kanta Dash, highlighted the importance of literature from Jammu and Kashmir as having a central place in the history and evolution of Indian literary traditions.

This week, the Doordarshan Kendra of Kashmir (DD Kashmir) also organised a special session with Ghulam Haleem to discuss the delegation's experience of visiting Odisha and participating in KLF.