The Story
OrganizerWhen The New Indian Express launched the Odisha Literary Festival in Bhubaneswar, it set out to do something that distinguished it from the crowd of literary festivals proliferating across India: to give Indian-language writing pride of place. Unlike many literary meets, which lean heavily towards English, OLF has from the start promoted vernacular literature, writing in Odia and other Indian languages, as much as Indian writing in English, a commitment rooted in the newspaper group's long attention to regional cultural life.
Held every year in Bhubaneswar, the temple city, and organised through EventXpress, the events wing of The New Indian Express, the festival celebrates the written word across languages, bringing together writers, poets, publishers and translators alongside filmmakers and performers from across India. Its sessions range widely, across fiction and poetry, politics and translation, history and contemporary life, and its two-day format packs in debates, conversations and readings; the 2025 edition, marking around a decade of the festival, was held on 6 and 7 September at the Mayfair Convention in the city.
Over its editions OLF has grown into what its organisers describe, with some justification, as the lit fest of note in Odisha, one of the most significant events in Bhubaneswar's cultural calendar, and a festival that has inspired several me-too events in the state without being displaced by them. In a national festival landscape often criticised for privileging English and metropolitan voices, OLF's sustained championing of Odia and other Indian-language literature has given it a distinctive identity and a meaningful role in the literary life of eastern India.
OLF's significance lies in its championing of Indian-language literature within the litfest format. In an ecosystem where major festivals often centre English and metropolitan writing, OLF's consistent promotion of Odia and other vernacular literatures, alongside English, gives voice to regional literary cultures and writers who might otherwise remain on the margins of the festival circuit. As Odisha's leading literary festival, backed by a major media house, it provides a significant annual platform for writers, publishers and readers in eastern India, and helps sustain a reading culture in the region. Its role in inspiring further literary events in the state has also helped deepen Bhubaneswar's cultural calendar.
As India's literary-festival landscape grows and debates its English-language tilt, OLF matters as an established, media-backed festival that puts Indian-language writing at its centre, sustaining regional literary cultures and giving eastern India a flagship litfest. Its decade-long continuity and its distinctive vernacular commitment make it a meaningful platform for writers and readers alike. For the Atlas, OLF is a key node in mapping India's literary culture beyond the metropolitan mainstream.
