A three-day district-level Kannada Sahitya Sammelana will he organised from Friday to Sunday at Kateel and chaired by N Sukumar Gowda.

Briefing mediapersons on Wednesday, Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, president of the district Kannada Sahitya Parishat, said that a colourful procession will be taken out from the Mahakali Brahmamugera Daivasthana Gidigere to the Kateel PU College premises as part of the programme.

The meet will be inaugurated by the chairman of the Legislative Council D H Shankaramurthy. Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda will be the chief guest. District In-charge Minister Ramanath Rai will chair the function.

‘Vidwath Samman’ will be given to Angadimar Krishna Bhat and Pavanje Krishna Bhat (senior experts), Gidigere Ramakka (Pad-dana artiste), Keshav Ucchil (senior writer), Lingappa Serigar (instrumentalist), Saroja M Rao (musician), Lakshamanadas Velankar (multi-lingual expert), Shibaroor Vedavyasa Thantri (Aagama expert) A P Malathi (writer), Mambadi Subrahmanya Bhat (Yakshagana) and K Muralidhar Rao (Bharatanatyam expert) on the occasion. Also, ‘Kayyara Samsmarane’ will be undertaken by Prof M Ramachandra.

The three-day meet will include a poets’ meet, a discussion on the topics ‘Kannada: Balakeya Aayaamagalu’, ‘Kateel: History and Culture’, ‘Media in Coastal Districts’, ‘Epics from the Coastal Districts’, ‘Art Forms of Coastal District and their Development’, ‘Recent Developments in Coastal Karnataka: Contemporary Facets of Coastal Karnataka’ and also a student poets’ meet.

On Saturday, the meet will commence with a Nagaswara Vadya musical recital by Lingappa Serigar and Vachanagamritha by Maunesh Kumar Chavani. A special programme on Yakshagana will be organised during the three-day meet. The topics of discussion include the use of language in Yakshagana and Talamaddale, contemporary issues in Yakshagana and Talamaddale, roles in Yakshagana and Talamaddale, and the prasangas in Yakshagana and Talamaddale.

An exclusive exhibition of Yakshagana literature, instruments used in Yakshagana, and costumes will be held. ‘Swavalambi Santhe’ book stalls will be the highlights of the meet. The students of rural development project will take up a cleanliness drive in the vicinity of the venue. The valedictory address will be delivered by A Ishwarayya.

Achievers in various fields will be honoured on the closing day: Addanthadka Deranna Gowda (national service), Dr K Suresh Rao (medicine), D C Chowta (progressive farming), S A Prabhakar Sharma (administration), Kakkepadi Shankaranarayana Bhat (Gadinadu-Kannada paricharana), Chandrashekar Damle (education), N S Gokhale (cooperation), Harinarayana Maadavu (literature), Raghunath Rai Nuliyalu (education), Umesh Rao Ekkar, H Shakunthala (literature), Mohammed Kulai (literature), S D Shetty Ujire (literature), D Vishnu Bhat Dongre (literature), K G Malya (literature), Kalladi Deviprasad Shetty (Yakshagana), Kukkaje Chandrashekar Rao (Yakshagana), Hamza Malar (literature), Bantwal Jayaram Acharya (Yakshagana), Thamma Lakshamana (theatre), Kamalaskha Achar (Bharathnatyam), Sr Dr Jeevitha (medicine), Narayana K (printing and cooperation), G R Upadhya (painting), S K Anand (entreprenur), T Varadaraja Pai (entrepreneur), Rathnavathi Sanjeeva Achar (classical music), Rev John Stephen Sadananda (social service), Casmir Menezes (dairy farming), Narahari Prabhu Perara (agri business), Ekkaru Monappa Shetty (cooperative), Aboobakkar Arlapadavu (organisation), Manjari Krishnamurthy Rao (rangoli), and Kolavailu Padmanabha Rao (traditional agri business).

Assistant Commissioner Dr Ashok said that holidays have been declared for the schools situated in and around Kateel on Friday and Saturday. On Official Duty (OOD) facility will be provided for the teachers who participate in the literary meet.