The second day of DLF ended with a live session between five renowned women talking about the challenges they faced while exploring new cultural spaces. The women that we’re talking about are Jude Kelly of UK’s Southbank Centre; Muthoni Garland, the founder of Kenya’s Storymoja Festival; Meike Ziervogel, founder and publisher of Peirene Press; Sadaf Saaz, director and producer of Dhaka Lit Fest; and moderated by Kelly Falconer, founder of Asia Literary Agency, in March, 2013.
Falconer initiated the discussion by informing us about her works and that of the others. Kelly was a London based editor working for different publishing houses like Weidenfeld & Nicholos, Granta Constable & Robinson, and Virgin Books. In 2012, she worked as the literary editor for the Asia Literary Review. Sadaf Saaz is the person who made everything possible. Besides being a poet and a writer, she’s also running different businesses like Jatrik, and she’s currently working on her new novel.
Jude Kelly is the founder of different organisations such as WOW (Women of the World) Festival, Metal, and many others. In 2015, she was made a CBE in the New Year Honours for services in the arts.
Another famous writer Muthoni is the organiser of the Storymoja Fest in Nairobi. German-British writer, Meike Zievogel founded the well known publishing house Peirene Press in 2008. She also worked as a journalist.
These women shared their stories, inspiration and passion that pushed them to reach new heights and achieve their goals. They mainly focus on encouraging people to read, spread and expand their knowledge of different areas. These not only include literature, but also classical music and art. Fields like these help people to convey their thoughts and emotions in a more creative manner.
Empowerment of women was also addressed. In order for this to happen, everyone needs to connect with women suffering from inequality at different stages of their lives. And only then can we eradicate the problems from the society. Even though they have come a long way from where they have started and are quite happy with the progress, they feel positive changes will take place faster if people have the scope to explore different cultures. Books should be translated in various languages and the curiosity of the people is met in the best way.
