BHUBANESWAR: Walking Bookfairs, as a part of its celebration of women writers, organised readings and discussions on Jane Austen in Khandagiri here Sunday.
Feminist literature covers the canon of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, essays and other writings that relate to women’s equality in all fields including the social, political and domestic. The category includes classics, such as the essays and books written in the 1960’s and 1970’s during the second wave of feminism.
In the UK as well as the US, feminist presses were established as the interest in contemporary as well as historic feminist literature was rekindled.
Essentially, feminist literature covers a wide range of written expression, but what they all have in common is a focus on the female experience and how it changes, expands and evolves.
The members of Walking BookFairs are celebrating women’s history all March by encouraging more people to engage with books written by diverse women writers from various countries. Literature plays a vital role in empowering women to speak up and fight for their rights.
A member of the group said, “We are reading the works of women writers all this month at our book club which meets every Sunday evening at our bookstore to read and discuss from various books. We had readings and discussions from the books of Ismat Chughtai and Anupama Raju in the previous weeks.”
“Today we are reading the works of Jane Austen. Our last book club of March next Sunday will host readings and discussions from the books of ‘Women Writers Who Inspire Us’. Readers and non-readers alike are welcome to join us to read the legendary writings of famous writers such as Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison, Bell Hooks, Marguerite Duras, Jane Austen, Simone De Beauvoir, Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Mary Oliver, Adrienne Rich, including writers from India and the subcontinent – Quratulain Hyder, Salma, Kutti Revathi, K.R Meera and many others,” he added.
Probably the most famous female English novelist of all time – Jane Austen published her celebrated sextet of novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion) in the early 19th century, although her name never appeared on any of her books during her lifetime; Sense and Sensibility was credited to “A Lady”, and all of her subsequent novels were attributed to “The Author of Sense and Sensibility”.
Nevertheless, Austen’s identity became public knowledge a decade following her death, and her name could finally be attached to the iconic heroines she created, from Sense and Sensibility’s Elinor Dashwood to Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet to Emma’s Emma Woodhouse.
Various members will read parts from the books of Jane Austen followed by discussions. This is an initiative to promote reading among the citizens of Bhubaneswar and also to encourage more people to start book clubs in their own schools, colleges and communities.
The Walking BookFairs book club is one of the oldest reading groups in Bhubaneswar that has been holding regular reading sessions over the past five years.
