‘Writing a Poem which Feels like Lighting a Pyre,’ ‘Pandemic Ghazal,’ and ‘Bhetki,’ Three Poems – Writing Women

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‘Writing a Poem which Feels like Lighting a Pyre,’ ‘Pandemic Ghazal,’ and ‘Bhetki,’ Three Poems

Rayan Chakrabarti

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Library of Feminist Legacies
Writing Sisterhood
In Translation
Record and Remembering
Women Labour Resistance

Library of Feminist Legacies
Writing Sisterhood
In Translation
Record and Remembering
Women Labour Resistance

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Rayan Chakrabarti

Rayan Chakrabarti is a writer hailing from Kolkata. His poems have been published in MulberryLiterary and Mascara Literary Review among others. His work deals with the intersections of memory, nation and violence.

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For the first time both our reading groups have se

For the first time both our reading groups have selected the same books ❤️

We’ll be reading Arundhati Roy’s new memoir ‘Mother Mary comes to me’ and ‘Hatred in the belly’ by the Ambedkar Age Collective suggested by @brieflykajal as a parallel read, with an anti-caste critique of savarna writings, including Roy’s work.

Meetups are Dec 6th (in-person) and Dec 7th (online), if you’d like to join please dm, we have a new whatsapp group/community to coordinate our reading spaces 🙌🏽

Happy reading and excited for our last session of the year 📚
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“Is there a way by which the English, chic, labe

“Is there a way by which the English, chic, labels of LGBTQIA+, so sonorous you could almost taste it, and the politics of pronouns can be translated into Bangla?”

There is so much love and tenderness in Aadrit’s essay about the possibility/impossibility of translating sexuality and gender across generations and language.

Read this memorable and moving piece in full on writingwomen.co as part of the InTranslation series co-edited with the lovely Hemlyn, and visit @aadritbanerjee for more critical storytelling ❤️
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#writingwomen #intranslation #translatingsexuality #intergenerationaltranslations #translatinglove #creativenonfiction #languageofgender #genderidentity #bangla #queernarratives #translatingthebody

“I had taken someone else’s voice and tried to

“I had taken someone else’s voice and tried to braid it into hers. And in the process, I rendered both unintelligible. I was trying to stitch a river.”

Sakshi captures the intranslatability of knowing between mothers and daughters, and the loving effort made regardless of futility. This piece felt utterly resonant, salient and incredibly beautiful ❤️

Read in full at writingwomen.co and visit @sakshinainbishnoi for more thoughtful narratives. This essay is part of the InTranslation series co-edited with Hemlyn, with original artwork here done by @nahalsheikh 🙌🏽
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“What reads as “resistance” to the oppressed

“What reads as “resistance” to the oppressed resounds as “terrorism” to the State; what the State dictates as “illegal” in return echoes as “survival” for the oppressed.”

@soniyapondcar anchors to Mumbai’s Indigenous Koli community in her necessary essay on how language imposition and brahminism translates to erasure of knowledge, history and resistance. She’s also added to our reading and watch lists with films, poetry and books that stand in powerful opposition to the ‘oppressor’s tongue.’ 🫶🏽

Read the full essay on writingwomen.co as part of our InTranslation series, co-edited with Hemlyn 🌺
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#writingwomen #intranslation #kolilanguage #theoppressorstongue #languageloss #languageimposition #marathi #indigenouslanguage #againsterasure #langaugeofresistance #nativetongues #displacement #languageoftheoppressed #poetryasresistance

“What language is the language of the survivor?

“What language is the language of the survivor? What is my role as a caseworker in translating this story? Would she have wanted to be remembered for her last days or for the person she was, before the incidence of violence? Can I call her neither victim nor survivor? Rather what Rohith Vemula calls a ‘glorious thing made up of stardust’. “

Kalpita’s articulation of moving between the feminist labour of hope and delusion so accurately describes how we feel in this present moment. While she centres the realities of survivors and victims of violence, and the language of this experience captures a far deeper, visceral state of being.

Read in full on writingwomen.co and see @kalpitaw_ for more. This piece is part of the #intranslation series, co-edited with @hemlynr ❤️
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“I have translated the song here as an act of re

“I have translated the song here as an act of remembering.”

In her reflections on translations and tradition of the Lepcha communities of Sikkim Lungmying also shares the poetry this process inspired for her. She writes, “We are not known by our surname. But from our Anum Chu (mountains), From Anom and Anum Aungkyongsong (rivers). Our mother Rungyu and Father Rungeet. Our eldest brother Anum Kongchen (Mt Kanchenjunga) and by all the clans connected within us.” ❤️

Read in full on writingwomen.co and see @aamiklom for more writing and poetry! This piece is part of the #InTranslation series co-edited with @hemlynr for Writing Women
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#creativenonfiction #poetry

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