This news story has been updated with Chetna Keer's remarks.
Dubai, UAE: One of India’s most innovative publishing entities, Readomania, joins hands with Ananke to participate at Ananke’s Women In Literature Festival on March 31st and April 1st, 2022 to celebrate literature, publishing and the creative process.
The two-day, online event plans to celebrate literary voices from across the Global South and beyond who are all set to share their views about fictionalizing women’s lived experiences at the second edition of Ananke’s much celebrated Women In Literature Festival 2022 (#WLF2022).
Readomania was established in September 2014 and its annual publishing list was streamlined from 2016 onwards, which includes literary, midlist, and commercial fiction across multiple genres, short stories, poetry, non-fiction, and children’s fiction. The current focus of Readomania’s publishing programme is diversity in content. Readomania has four principal interest areas – traditional print publishing, online library of short stories and poetry, literary services, and products.
The event will feature two Readomania panels: Gender Divide on the Bestseller Lists with eminent panelists, Archana Sarat, Harshali Singh, Sutapa Basu, moderated by the effervescent Anupama Jain. The second session, titled Women Writing during the Pandemic, will feature distinguished panelists: Deepti Menon, Shalini Mullick, Chetna Keer and will be moderated by the very notable Rituparna Ghosh.
Sharing her reflections, Harshali Singh said “Begin in delight and end in Wisdom’ has held me in good stead thus far. I write to portray with realism, adult urban subtleties in the context of relationships and families depicting the world we inhabit.”
The two back-to-back sessions will be held on the second day of the event – March 31st, 2022 at 2.30 PM UAE.
Talking about the event, Archana Sarat said: “It’s an honour to be a participant in Ananke’s panel discussion on the gender divide on bestseller lists. The concept of having a bestseller list to hold art in high esteem is an appalling and flawed concept. Adding insult to the injury is the rampant discrimination that is prevalent in the creation of these lists. It is time to open our eyes and accept that something is wrong. It is also time to open the doors to these important conversations with the hope that something can change.”
Panelist Shalini Mullick also added her thoughts: “The unique tapestry of words that women writers from the Global South weave can be instrumental in putting the spotlight on diversity in publishing. The Ananke WLF is an excellent platform to explore the vast and rich spectrum of voices and lived experiences of women across different identities. Being a part of this festival will be an exciting and enriching experience.”
“Thrilled to be part of the inclusivity & diversity of dialogues on #WomenInLiterature at #AnankeWLF2022, where my Pandemic fiction book mirroring Lockdown-shadowed literary landscapes, “GIDDHA ON MY GULMOHAR”, finds a universal and unique resonance. Felicitations to Sabin Muzaffar, Team Ananke & Allies for giving women’s writerly voices from the Global South this engaging literary outing,” remarked Chetna Keer.
With the theme, Rethinking Paper, Ink & Gender, the two-day online event opens up dialogue on publishing and the written word at the intersections of gender, feminist literary activism, innovation, biases, sustainability, linguistic identity, corporatization in publishing and more.
The event will be livestreamed on Ananke’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/anankemag
Organizing partners and collaborators include (in alphabetical order) Readomania, Seagull Books, Zubaan Books, Zuka Books, Ala Books and Authors, Authors Alliance Pakistan, Neem Tree Press and more. Authors include, Myriam Tadasse, Annie Zaidi, Sabyn Javeri, Saba Karim Khan, Aysha Baqir, Zainab Shah, Nilofer Qazi, Kehkasha Khalid, Usman T Malik, Tarun Saint, Arpita Das, Sascha Akhtar, Nilanjana Bhowmick, Naima Rashid, Arshia Sattar, Dr Amina Yaqin, Katherine Abraham, Sara Naveed, Safinah Danish Elahi, Laaleen Sukhera, Arsalan Athar, Mehr F Husain, Taiba Abbas, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Radhika Maira Tabrez, Linda Collins, Akshita Nanda, Ameena Hussein, Wanjikū Wa Ngūgī, Meena Kandasamy, Anam Zakaria, K Vaishali, Aquila Ismail, Anubha Yadav, Tanushree Ghosh, Shereen Melharbe, Dr Sofia Rehman, Archna Sharma, Hafsa Lodi, Hira Ali, Shahd AlShammari, Lakshana Palat, Kehkashan Khalid, Sidra F Sheikh, Rohama Malik, Sumit Sehgal, Shreya Ila Anasuya, Piyusha Vir, Nida Usman Chaudhry, Deepti Menon, Harshali Singh, Sutapa Basu, Anupama Jain, Rituparna Ghosh, Archna Sarat, Shalini Mullick, Chetna Keer and more. Watch this space for more updates.
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Hashtag: #AnankeWLF #WLF2022
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