A day-long festival to mark the distribution of awards titled ‘Jibanananda Pursuhkar’ in memory of Jibanananda Das, the ‘Poet of Ruposhi Bangla’ was on Saturday night at Abdul Khalek Auditorium of Kheayali group theatre in the ancestral city of the poet.

It was organised by Adda Dhansiri under the committee of ‘Jibanananda Purushkar-2019’. Two literary personalities Abdul Mannan Sarkar and Jewel Mazhar were awarded ‘Jibanananda Pursuhkar-2019’ with crest and address of honour in this festival.

Director of Bangabandhu comparative literature and cultural institute Poet Shamim Reza presided over programme and noted literary personality Selina Hossain attended the programme as chief guest. Chairman of Bangla Department of Uttarbanga University of West Bengal, India Prof Nikhilesh Roy attended the programme as special guest.

Prof Mustafa Tarikul Ahsan of folklore department of Rajshahi University, Poet Dipangkar Chakraborty, Asma Chowdhury, Santosh Singha, Gazi Latif, Chanchal Bashar, Hijal Jubayer, Michhil Khandokar, addressed the programme, among others.