Bhubaneswar: The third edition of the Walking BookFairs Travel Writing Festival is set to embark on a unique literary journey from Bhubaneswar to Puri December 14, promising book lovers and writers an immersive experience on wheels.
Organised in partnership with OrissaPOST, the festival will travel in a specially curated bus carrying books, authors, conversations, and curated cultural stops, making literature accessible beyond conventional spaces.
Renowned English poet, novelist, translator and journalist Jerry Pinto will inaugurate the festival at the Walking BookFairs pick-up point in Bhubaneswar. Following the inauguration, the travelling literature festival will begin its day-long route, blending storytelling with exploration.
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The festival will host two key panel discussions. The first, titled Reading, Writing and Publishing in a Fractured World, will feature renowned authors and journalists including Jerry Pinto, Ravi Singh, Sanjay Kak and Sampad Patnaik. The second session — The Enduring Importance and Joys of Slow Living and Travel — will bring together Dharitri and OrissaPOST Chief Executive Adyasha Satpathy, Editor Tathagata Satpathy, businessman-investor-author Ravi Mantha, and travel writer-novelist Chandrahas Choudhury. The discussion will explore mindful travel, sustainable living and the cultural value of unrushed journeys.
Describing the festival’s growing legacy, founders Akshaya Bahibala and Satabdi Mishra said, “The Walking BookFairs Travelling Writing Festival is India’s first travel literature festival, born in Odisha. After hosting the country’s first lit-fest on a train last year, we are excited to bring the third edition as ‘a litfest on a bus.’ This year, we celebrate sustainable, mindful travel and the transformative power of stories, ideas and food that cross borders.”
The travelling festival aims to create meaningful engagement between readers and writers through interactive sessions, shared travel experiences and conversations that celebrate the joy of reading on the move.
RESHMI YADAV, OP
