Some of the notable speakers were Piyush Mishra, Arif Mohammad Khan, Rahul Pandita, Haraprasad Das, Subrat Kumar Prusty.

The festival had a session on youth, language and emotions in features speakers including Satyanand Nirupam, Vineet Kumar, Kedar Mishra, Sangam Lahiri, Arundhathi Subramaniam and Sujit Mohapatra[2] Fourth edition was launched on 10 June 2017, inaugurated by Sitakant Mahapatra and Ramakanta Rath.

The three days event (10 to 12 June) featured over 200 speakers including Bhalchandra Nemade, H. S. Shivaprakash, Kedarnath Singh, Haraprasad Das, Anand Neelakantan, Maitreyi Pushpa and Pratibha Ray.

[10][11][12][5][13] The fifth edition was launched in 2018, and held between 8 and 10 June, featuring over 300 speakers including Amish Tripathi, Ramendra Kumar, Pavan Varma, Jayanta Mahapatra, Ramakanta Rath, Gourahari Das.

[3] Kalinga Literary Festival started Kathmandu edition from 2022 with the aim of promoting Nepali language, literature, and culture.