Mangaluru: Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Manu Baligar urged writers to display sensitivity while penning their thoughts as they are socially bound and owe allegiance to society.

He asked them to have no distinction between their lives and their writings as only then can there be relevance in their art form.

After inaugurating the 84th literary convention as part of Lakshadeepotsava celebrations in Dharmasthala on Monday Baligar asked writers to be ethical towards society.

Expressing concern over the extinction of folk art forms, he called upon youth to gain knowledge about folklore and culture. He said government, academies and religious institutions must strive towards preserving folk art forms.

He said the main objective of literature was to unite minds and not divide them. He said Dharmasthala, apart from being a spiritual destination, was a centre of art and literature.

Delivering the keynote address Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade called upon people to encourage literature. “Kannada, as a mother tongue, plays a significant role in character building and one must develop a sense of pride in Kannada language and culture,” he said.

Presiding over the literary convention, writer M N Vyasarao said moral values had diminished in literary works. “Human values have been ill-represented in poetry, novels and plays,” he said. He said writers must utilise their experience to enrich literature.