Should writers have a social responsibility? Should they intervene, use their writing subversively? Can writing be subversive in a time of siege – or is it just dangerous? In February 2007 Women’s World (India) put together these questions to more than 50 women writers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at its national colloquium. Writing in a Time of Siege contains the responses and thoughts of major feminist writers from these countries as they write about the pressures of state censorship and the experience of writing in a time of siege. Some of the key concerns that emerge from their writings are summed up in the following sections of the book:
Writing in a Time of Siege
Closing Spaces in an Open Market
Exclusionary Practices
The Guarded Tongue