Bhubaneswar: Legendary poet and essayist Haraprasad Das was on Sunday conferred with the covetous Kalinga Literary Award for his work and contribution to literature at the fourth edition of Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF).

Focusing on literature for peace and harmony, the three-day literary festival was on Saturday inaugurated here by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, eminent poet and Padma Vibhusan awardee Sitakant Mahapatra and renowned poet Ramakanta Rath.

This year the KLF introduced two new awards -- the Kalinga International Literary Award, which was received by Anand Neelakantan for his contribution towards literature, and the Kalinga Karubaki Award, which was given to Paramita Satpathy for her contribution to Odia poetry.

On the first day of the KLF, ten books were released and eminent poets recited their poems. (IANS)