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Two Regional Workshops with Women Writers, 2003-2004 |
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Regional workshops
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As a follow-up activity and in response to writers’ requests, Women’s WORLD (India) planned two regional language writers’ workshops in 2003-2004, to consolidate the work done so far and to chart future activities. These workshops were made possible by generous support from WACC. The first workshop, consisting of 35 writers from six southern and western languages—Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati and Marathi—was held in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) in May 2003. The second workshop, comprising the North, East, and the seven states of North-east India, took place in Guwahati (Assam) in May 2004. The languages represented in this workshop were: Hindi, Bengali, English, Mizo, Assamiya, and Ao. As with the first regional workshop, this one, too, had approximately 25 writers who came from all over the North-east—Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, as well as from West Bengal, Delhi, and Jammu & Kashmir. |
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Both workshops had writers who have used a variety of forms—prose, poetry, novels, short-stories, essays, plays—and have been active, in different ways on social issues. Many are teachers, some are journalists, and at least about six of the writers present in the second workshop are members of the North East Writers’ Forum, a unique network of writers with a membership of 350.
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Achievements
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As far as we are aware, the two regional workshops were the first time that women writers from 12-15 languages, from across the country, met in such large numbers to discuss:
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(i) The Writer’s Social Responsibility;
(ii) Writing in a Time of Siege.
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1.
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The workshops were remarkable for the fact that they recognized the importance of such meetings for writers, and their need to connect to each other on social issues. As many of them said, there is no shortage of literary gatherings and seminars, but this kind of coming together, as a collective, forges solidarity and creates a network that is concerned with literature and society. And specifically, with censorship, and writing under siege. It was also the first time that such a large number of writers (between 60-70 from different parts of the country) met to share their specific experiences of different forms of social and political censorship. Rarely has such exposure to each other’s social, political and regional context been made possible.
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2. |
The second major benefit has been linking up with other writers’ groups in different parts of the country. The North East Writers’ Forum is one; Samyukta, a women’s studies initiative in Kerala is another; Kalam in Gujarat is a third; a network of Tamil writers which has had small meetings on similar issues; Miloon Saryajani, a Marathi magazine and women’s organization in Maharashtra, has close links with Women’s WORLD; and Shoi, a Bengali women writers’ group formed after our Bengali workshop, continues to work with us, as well as independently.
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3. |
The specific outcomes of the two regional workshops are:
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(i) an anthology of writing by women on the Gujarat carnage of 2002
(ii) an anthology of writing by women from the seven North-eastern states.
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Both books will be published jointly by Women’s WORLD/Women Unlimited.
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4.
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A very strong desire was expressed by all the writers to keep the Network active and make a commitment to sustaining it. Various suggestions were made, including putting up a website; organizing small meetings; taking up cases of censorship; translating each other’s work; and so on.
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Difficulties
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The main difficulty—if it can be called that!—is that we were unable to include many more writers in our workshops. Financial and time constraints, as well as the difficulty of getting women to take time off from homes and work to attend a workshop, were partly responsible.
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A delay in organizing the second workshop, originally scheduled for November 2003, was caused by a combination of these factors: writers and organizers, both, were over-committed to other programmes; and because we wanted this workshop to be located in the North East, climate and time of year were also important when deciding dates.
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However, these are minor problems. The real difficulty lies in being able to sustain a Network, which is such a fluid and informal entity in the first place. In order to build on what has been achieved over the last few years, we need to devote time, energy and—not least—find financial support for ongoing activities.
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