Festival celebrates women authors who write in regional languages

Illustration/ Ravi Jadhav

Poverty can strangle many a dream, but for women, its impact is ruefully more inhibiting. The story of Baby Halder began in an abusive household, and kept taking turns for the worse until she ended up as a domestic help in the Gurgaon home of Prabodh Kumar. A professor of anthropology and grandson of Hindi literary icon, Munshi Premchand, he introduced Halder to the world of literature when he noticed her interest in books as she dusted the shelves of his study. In 2006, she penned her autobiography in Bengali, which got translated in over 20 languages.

Literature lovers of Mumbai can hear the inspiring stories of Halder, Nalini Jameela, who was once a sex worker in Kerala before she wrote about her search for dignity in her autobiography, and other feisty women writers from all walks of life at the Gateway Litfest, which opens today. A celebration of literature in Indian languages, the three-day festival is bringing together over 50 award-winning and promising women writers in 17 languages for its 2018 edition.

Baby Halder

"Woman writers are the most significant force in contemporary Indian literature. Their profound voices have explored new horizons in language," says award-winning Bengali poet, writer and editor Subodh Sarkar, who is a member of the festival's advisory panel. The panel features other eminent names including celebrated filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, veteran Gujarati poet Sitamshu Yashachandra, Marathi writer Laxman Gaikwad, former secretary of Sahitya Akademi and Malayalam poet K Satchidanandan, art curator Bose Krishnamachari, and journalist and researcher Uma da Cunha. Sarkar explains the curatorial process, "Shobhaa De [a panelist at the festival] alone is not India, nor is Baby Halder. When such voices come together, they represent diverse narratives."

Aparna Sen

Entering its fourth year, the festival was conceptualised when four journalists met one evening and voiced their concern over why the red carpet treatment meted out to Indian writers in English at literature festivals was not extended to their counterparts writing in Bengali, Marathi or Tamil. "We have nothing against Indian writing in English, but our aim was to give a national platform to writers in other languages," says Joseph Alexander, executive director of the festival. The 2018 edition will see representation in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, among other languages.

Nalini Jameela

The keynote address will be given by noted filmmaker and actor Aparna Sen. Another interesting session will see five men from the field of literature, including Jerry Pinto, read their favourite women writers. The festival will also honour Halder with the Woman Writer of the Year award, and to encourage cross-pollination among languages, veteran translator Leela Sarkar will be conferred with the Excellence in Translation award.

ON: February 22 to 24, 2 pm onwards
AT: Experimental Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point.
LOG ON TO: gatewaylitfest.com
CALL: 65650270