The sixth edition of the Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet ended on Sunday after three days of engaging discussions, dialogue and cultural performances spread across a gamut of topics ranging from literature to technology, from films to music, and much more.

The concluding session was a magical affair with award-winning singer Sonal Kalra and the Sufi Gospel Project performing moving compositions at the Rail Auditorium.

Tata Steel’s annual literary fest, which returned to the city after a gap of a year because of the pandemic, saw some of the region’s and the country’s best authors, poets, thespians, musicians and artists sharing their insights and experience.

The final day of the meet began with a session of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and his co-author Tanuj Bhojwani talking about their new book The Art of Bitfulness. The dialogue saw keen participation from members of the audience who were intrigued on maintaining a difference between work and home in a rapidly digitalising world.

This was followed by a discussion with Gianluca Rubagotti, Counsel General of Italy in India, and legendary Odissi and Chhau dancer Ileana Citaristi on the impact of Italian culture on India.

Actors Rahul Bose and Jayant Kripalani discussed how in recent times the format of web series is ruling the entertainment industry and that impact this has on the big screen.

Noted wildlife writer Bikram Grewal launched his new book Wildlife in India and discussed about the trend of wildlife tourism post pandemic world.

A session was also held with the chief adviser to the chief minister’s office in Odisha R. Balakrishnan, who has been working for the past 30 years on the origin of the Dravidians and the pre-history of Tamilians and Indus Valley Civilisation.

He interacted with Tony Joseph and Sampad Patnaik on the journey of a civilisation. Women’s writings have been celebrated and discussed across all of Tata Steel’s Literary Meets, and in this edition Sahitya Akademi awardee Yashodhara Mishra spoke with Sanghamitra Mishra and Hiranmayee Mishra on women writers writing on women issues.

The final session at the Bhubaneswar Club, the venue for the meet this year, could not have been with an enthralling discussion celebrating the centenary year of Satyajit Ray. Actor Dhritiman Chatterjee was joined by Susant Mishra, Kapilas Bhuyan and Surya Deo for an engaging dialogue on the works of the master.

Sarvesh Kumar, the chief corporate communications, Tata Steel India; South East Asia said: “The response to the 6th edition of TSBLM has been tremendous, and this encourages us to make future events bigger and better.

“We have been supporting freethinking and debate in society for several decades and it is to this end that we have been organising literary meets in this region. It has been a privilege for the Tata Steel to be able to host this event and I thank the ever-supportive people of Odisha for their participation.”

Festival director Malavika Banerjee said: “We are really happy to see the intense involvement of the culturally rich people of Bhubaneswar and their love for literature and culture. We hope to come back next year with even more vigour and promise to entertain and enthral the vibrant audience of Bhubaneswar.”