The 2025 Edition of Ananke’s Festival of Literature arrives at a time when the world is yet again facing an onslaught on free speech and freedom of expression that fights against the tyranny of censorship, neo-colonial regimes of oppression especially of the sub-altern and marginalized. Moving past the time of looking back, taking stalk and reflecting, this is the moment of speaking truth to power.
With this year’s festival theme: Speaking Truth to Power, the three-day, digital event will commence on April 29th, 2025 and streamed on Ananke’s YouTube page; with links shared on its Facebook page as well.
This year, Ananke brings forth special sessions on Dalit experiences expressed through poetry and literature, also as a part of honoring Dalit History Month.
The sessions will not just focus on celebrating language and literature, distinguished guests will talk about their works and lived experiences
The first session to be streamed on Day 1 of the Festival features the inspirational poet and illustrator Gautam Vegda who will share anecdotes and poetic narratives stemming from his lived experiences and that of the women in Dalit community. The session will focus on the Dalit relationship with the land, the animal kingdom and environment, perceptions and biases South Asian societies hold, presenting an alternative perspective to the mainstream, racially charged, xenophobic view.
Gautam Vegda
Gautam Vegda is an anti-caste poet, illustrator, painter and a research scholar from Gujarat, India. He is the only Dalit writer who writes in English in Gujarat State. Vegda has published a couple of poetry collections namely Vultures and Other Poems (2018) and A Strange Case of Flesh and Bones (2019). He has contributed to several global anthologies such as Madness:An Anthology of World Poetry (2023). Gautam Vegda largely writes around the caste oppression and atrocities inflicted upon the Dalits and women. Gautam Vegda’s recent works are around exclusive Dalit ecology and Environmental Justice. Gautam Vegda possesses a multifaceted skill sets such as painting and illustration. His illustrations and paintings have been the part of a reputed Gujarati journal and have also created ripples in Indian poetry and art communities.
The second session on Day 2 is titled Keeru: Reading and Discussing a Punjabi Novella. Fauzia Rafique’s Punjabi novella, Keeru. It was first published in Pakistan in 2019. It is forthcoming in an English translation in July 2025 from Hachette in India and Sanjh in Pakistan. The novella challenges the dominance of patriarchal, heterosexual, casteist, and nationalist narratives that are deeply entrenched in Punjabi literature and South Asian literature more generally. It shifts the focus towards the vulnerable including Dalit, feminist, and diasporic characters and their stories of love and resistance. Through its portrayal of five differently marginalized characters, the novella weaves a sensitive human story that deals with timely topics such as blasphemy, caste and more. In this bilingual session, the writer and translator will read from the novella and discuss its themes and significance.
Fauzia Rafique
Fauzia Rafique is a South Asian Canadian writer of fiction and poetry, Fauzia has published three novels/novellas: Keeru, Skeena, and The Adventures of Saheban: Biography of a Relentless Warrior. She edited an anthology of writings of women of South Asian origin, Aurat durbar: The Court of Women. In Pakistan, Fauzia worked as a journalist and a screenwriter. Fauzia came to Canada as a Convention Refugee in 1986. She is a co-founder and the coordinator of Surrey Muse Arts Society.
Haider Shahbaz
Haider Shahbaz is a writer and translator from Pakistan. He is the translator of Mirza Athar Baig’s Hassan’s State of Affairs(HarperCollins India) and the editor of a special issue, “Against the Canon: Urdu Feminist Writing”, for Words Without Borders. His English translation of Fauzia Rafique’s Keeru is forthcoming from Hachette in India and Sanjh in Pakistan.
Join us as we celebrate the fearless pursuit of truth and the enduring strength of words. Together, let’s imagine a world where speaking out is an act of hope and where every story told becomes a step toward justice.
