Millions of people across the world live with a range of physical and mental disabilities. And yet, disability remains poorly understood and is usually met with responses of indifference or pity. What does it mean to be disabled? How can we speak or write about the category of disability without homogenising or simplifying experiences? How can writing help people understand the intersections between disability and other identities such as gender, sexuality and age? And, crucially, how might we better represent the lived experience of disabled people across different types of literature?

Panelists: Renu Addlakha, Shreya Ila Anasuya, Shruthi Rao

Moderator: Antara Telang

A black goat witnesses the inequality and violence of the human world. A childless couple is split apart by social norms and rituals. An untouchable goat-herd, bound to his powerful master, struggles to find happiness amidst exploitation. These are just some of the narratives that Perumal Murugan, noted Tamil writer, explores in his works of fiction.

In this conversation, translated by Ram Sarangan of The Indian Express, Murugan discusses his life’s work, which consists of varied writings on identity and inclusion, and considers the relationship between literature and social justice.

Panelists: Perumal Murugan, Ram Sarangan (translator)
Moderator: Manjari Sahay

The impulse behind translation is inclusive because it involves making knowledge available to those who could not previously access it. Translated literature provides a window into the lives of others who are unlike us in some ways but like us in others. But what are some of the challenges involved in translation? How does a translator retain the nuances of the original text? Finally, how much meaning is lost in translation and is it, then, possible to ‘step into someone else’s shoes’?

Panelists: Arunava Sinha, Anjum Katyal, Jerry Pinto
Moderator: Rukmini Chawla Kumar

Desire is often framed in terms of the binary between heterosexual (considered ‘normal’) and homosexual (considered ‘abnormal’). However, history reveals that countries like India have had rich cultures of desire that do not always fit into these neat categories. What forms have these cultures taken? How have they changed over time? What has been the role of colonialism in shaping, and perhaps even impoverishing, modern cultures of desire in the Indian subcontinent? And how can we use various tools from the humanities to weave more complex narratives of desire in India?

Panelists: Madhavi Menon, Sanjay Srivastava

Moderator: Manjari Sahay

Most of us perceive childhood as a time of innocence and seek to protect our children from the harsh realities of an increasingly divisive world. Oftentimes, we are blind to the ways in which children and young adults are confronted with these realities. How are children affected by increasing identity-based discrimination and large-scale migrations triggered by violence in/among nations? How does reading stories that represent children’s emotional struggles make for cathartic and self-reflexive exercise? What is the role of children’s literature in addressing emotional trauma experienced by children, and how might literature help adults engage children with these complex questions?

Panelists: Paro Anand, Nupur Dhingra Paiva, David Unger
Moderator: Shranya Gambhir

Despite its claim to native status, Indigenous identity remains underexplored and underrepresented. What are some of the major threats to Indigenous rights and ownership today? What does Indigenous resistance to these threats look like? How do experiences of Indigeneity vary by location? How have these varied experiences been depicted in fiction and non-fiction literatures? Why do we find them missing from mainstream narratives and curricula? And can we speak meaningfully about ‘the Indigenous experience’ without homogenising Indigenous communities?

Panelists: Alf Gunvald Nilsen, Melissa Michal, Siddhartha Sarma, Jacinta Kerketta
Moderator: Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty

When people migrate from one nation to another, the shift in cultures often culminates in a conflicted identity--one that involves the collision of differences and the feeling of not fully belonging anywhere. This feeling is exacerbated by various forms of racial profiling and discrimination against immigrants. How do immigrants respond to these? How do they reconstruct their cultural identity and sense of home without letting go of their own beliefs? How do immigrant families bridge cultures across generations and embrace each others’ differences?

Panelists: Guruprasad Kaginele, Mitali Perkins, Jenny Bhatt
Moderator: Debanjan Chakrabarti

In recent times, we have witnessed an escalation of discrimination against Indian Muslims. What are some of the political, social, and historical factors that have contributed to this present moment and how much of this hate is 'manufactured' versus deeply embedded in Indian society? How has this sharp spike of hate impacted Muslims and how they get perceived by others? And, perhaps most importantly, how might one imagine a more inclusive India for all religious identities?

Panelists: Annie Zaidi, S Irfan Habib, Khalid Anis Ansari
Moderator: Pamela Philipose

History in India and elsewhere has predominantly focused on men, been written by and from the perspective of men. The existing interpretations of our past have largely relegated women to the background, making them merely incidental to our readings of major historical events. Who are some important women in Indian history? Why do they matter? Why is it imperative that the retelling of history be inclusive?

Panelists: Archana Garodia Gupta, Angellica Aribam, Ira Mukhoty
Moderator: Monobina Gupta

Independent bookstores and libraries serve the dual functions of making inclusive literature accessible to readers as well as forging thick connections, oftentimes through this literature, in their local communities. What examples can we learn from? What are the challenges, including economic ones, that might be key constraints? How have and how can independent bookstores and libraries be reimagined as cultural spaces that promote dialogues of inclusion and diversity?

Panelists: Mirza Touseef Baig, Rajni Malhotra, Radhika Timbadia, Mayura Misra
Bookstores represented: Midland, Bahrisons, Champaca, Storyteller
Moderator: Nirat Bhatnagar

Oftentimes, women are exclusively perceived through the prisms of institutions such as marriage and family. This, over time, results in an erasure of their individual identity and agency. How are women restricted and overwhelmed by traditional familial roles? What role does ‘choice’ play in women’s decision-making, and with what consequences? What alternate possibilities exist for women’s role in family and society?

Panelists: Samra Zafar, Pooja Pande, Amrita Nandy, Kalpana Sharma
Moderator: Naomi Barton

The relationship between the self and the society is a complex one and reveals itself in literature related to emotional and physical trauma. In an increasingly divisive and lonely society, how does trauma manifest in the body of both the individual and society? How is trauma shaped by incidents, social interactions, and upheavals? What is its relationship to gender and sexuality, religion and migration, class and disability? And how might we need to write about trauma in order to enable healing for individuals and societies?

Panelists: Anirudha Kala, Rheea Mukherjee, Indra Sinha

Moderator: Rukmini Chawla Kumar

‘Brownness’ is commonly used as a catch-all term for South Asian identities overseas. Like other children of colour, ‘brown’ children rarely see themselves in popular narratives, resulting in feelings of marginalisation and exclusion. How can children’s literature extend its imagination to bring ‘brown’ children to the centre of the narrative? What is the role of children’s literature in representing ‘brownness’ and helping children take pride in their skin colour?

Panelists: Saumiya Balasubramaniam, Sailaja Joshi
Moderator: Nirat Bhatnagar

Sexual rights in India have seen significant transformations over the last few years with 2018 being a watershed moment when the colonial-era Section 377 was read down. This has renewed the need to better understand sexual rights: Can we conceive of sexuality as a right? What falls within the ambit of sexual rights? How do sexual rights manifest in Indian law and society? And how might we use rights-based frameworks to further the inclusion of sexual minorities?

Panelists: Parmesh Shahani, Saurabh Kirpal, Madhavi Menon

Moderator: Anish Gawande

Like adults, children, too, experience different socio-political events that surround them and are deeply impacted by them. It is important that the stories children read not only describe fairies and leprechauns but also inform and educate them about their environment. How does literature for children enable them to understand the complexities of their world? How can the politics of the world be made accessible for children to understand, and how can they participate in these realities? What happens when children see themselves as agents of change in the stories they read?

Panelists: Rinchin, Ameya Narvankar, Raakhee Mirchandani, Nina Sabnani
Moderator: Shranya Gambhir

Journalism in India and across the world seems to have settled into some sort of a bipolar equilibrium. The ‘liberal’ media emphasises values of democracy and inclusion to its audience whereas the ‘conservative’ media sends almost diametrically opposite messages to its own audience. Echo chambers, which are very hard to break into or out of, come to be created. What role can the Indian media play in inviting more people to engage with themes of diversity and inclusion? What limitations must it reckon with? And, equally, what are its possibilities?

Panelists: Nazia Erum, Priyanka Dubey, Teresa Rehman, Arfa Khanum Sherwani
Moderator: Siddharth Varadarajan