Attend this unique event to celebrate the female literary voices in the Ambedkarite movement

All roads will lead to central Mumbai today where a landmark literary event will showcase the written word in a new light Maveli Publications is organising Transforming Life Into A Song An Evening of Ambedkarite Womenrsquos Poetry to launch their inaugural book Leaping Towards the Deep Blue Sky an anthology of the work of three generations of Ambedkarite women poets from Maharashtra The poems chart a journey from the formative currents of early Dalit feminist writing to the emergent queer contemporary political expressions of todayShrujana Shridhar Shreeja Rao and Hira BansodeldquolsquoDalit women are treated like little pickle on a thali mdash just for tastersquo writeractivist Hira Bansode once said to merdquo says Shrujana N Shridhar the bookrsquos editor and curator artist and anticaste activist currently doing her MFA at the Parsons School of Design New York ldquoThese women didnrsquot wait for recognition from their male counterparts They organised and wrote about each other for each other creating an enduring legacyrdquo At the event special guest noted writeractivist Urmila Pawar will speak about the history of the Samvadini Stree Literary Movement and her foreword to the book This will be followed by a conversation featuring Ambedkarite women poets Chhaya Koregaonkar Sharda Navale Dr Pradnya Pawar Varsha Bhise and translator Shreeja Rao The poets will read out their poems followed by a video featuring editor Shrujana N Shridhar and poets unable to attend reflecting on their journey writing anticaste poetryPradnya Pawar Chhaya Koregaonkar and Varsha BhiseMaveli Publications is backed by an Ambedkarite collective of artists and writers The book is translated from Marathi to English by Shreeja Rao mdash a law student journalist and US Department of State scholar mdash and Shridhar with a foreword by Urmila Pawar It includes the works of 13 visionary poets like Hira Bansode Dr Pawar Ushakiran Atram and Disha Pinki Shaikh It traces a living history of struggle sisterhood resisting caste and Brahminical patriarchyDisha Pinki Shaikh Sandhya Shivram Tambe Sheetal Sathe and Ushakiran AtramReflecting on the origin of the book Shridhar says ldquoWhen I interviewed Urmila Pawar in 2018 for my research on the Little Magazine Movement and the Dalit Panthers she offered a vital feminist lens that laid bare the limitations of how Dalit womenrsquos realities are understood within the anticaste movement The Samvadini Stree Sahitya Manch founded in 1985 by herself Bansode and others produced an anthology Dalit Lekhika Ani Sahitya Dalit Women Writers and Literature edited by Pawar and published by Pune University For this the team interviewed over 50 women poets across Maharashtra mdash Chandrapur Sangli Miraj Pune Mumbai and Thane They gathered verses born out of resistance some in notebooks nearly destroyed by husbands fathers or brothers Pawar recounts the ways in which some poets had to appease their husbands so they would let them publish Dalit womenrsquos poetry thrives despite them being constrained by patriarchal roles even within Ambedkarite homesrdquoSharda Navale Sneha K Rajyashri Goody and Surekha BhagatRao adds ldquoThe book makes for a telling example of how Dalit women have experienced the brunt of gendered caste oppression but also advanced the Ambedkarite movement through their work The most refreshing aspect of translating this book was a reminder of how my community of Ambedkarite women have found sisterhood created culture and found solace despite the discrimination violence and trauma we endurerdquoON Today 6 pm to 9 pmAT Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre JK Sawant Marg Matunga WestFREERead betweenA verse from Sharda Navalersquos powerful SuffocationGhusmatldquoI take care of the householdI teach my childrenI give my spare time to the movementI stand by my mothers and sistersrdquoHer husband grew suspiciousThat promiscuous pimpLabelled her characterlessAnd on one terrifying nightHe set her ablazeHer untimely deathAs if a release