Literary Oracle and the Department of English, Berhampur University wish all a safe passage through these difficult times. While human beings have lost their mythic grandeur, suffering and struggling against the invisible virus, literature, art, music and creativity have been the respite. In spite of lockdowns and the stress of online teaching we have been able to bring out this issue of Literary Oracle.

I owe my gratitude to Deepshikha Routray, alumnus of the Department and one of our associate editors, and to the members of the editorial board who have both suffered from Covid 19 and have also lost their dear ones. Authors Press lost some of their valuable employees to the pandemic. We express our deep sympathies to the bereaved families.

During these trying times Prof. Sharbani Banerjee (Associate Editor LO), Dr Balabhadra Tripathy, Prof S.P. Das, Prof. M.E. Veda Sharan and our publisher Sudarshan Kcherry have been my pillars of strength. All the members of the Editorial board have been very kind and diligent in evaluating the papers received for this journal.