Meike Ziervogel came to attend this year’s Dhaka Lit Fest to discuss women’s roles in the creative and media industries, amongst many other aspects. At her session titled “Outside the comfort zone,” the German-British writer and publisher, who runs the award-winning independent publishing house Peirene Press, talks about how publishing houses help writers get the exposure they deserve. Especially to a generation that does not read books anymore. In a tete-a-tete with Dhaka Tribune, Ziervogel discusses what her novels centre around, how she loved the interactive audience at the DLF and her love for romantic poetry.
Is this your first time attending a fest in Bangladesh? No, this is actually my second time at a fest here. I was here in spring to attend the Bengal Lights Literary Conclave at ULAB.
How was the audience at the DLF and what did you like about them the most? My audience was very attentive and as a panellist, I really liked the fact that they were willing to ask questions.
I didn’t attend any event here where the moderator asked the audience if they had any questions, and they were quiet. They immediately raised their hands and asked questions which went to show that they were really engaged.
Aside from your own session, name a session that you enjoyed? I thought every single session that I went to was interesting and I took away something from each one of them.
What did you most enjoy speaking about? My sessions were all very different and I focused on different subject matters. I run a publishing house so I talked about that. I talked about what it means being a woman and running a business in the creative industry. And I also enjoyed talking about my novels because they are based on women and aggression, and I feel there’s a need to focus more on these things in today’s world.
Did you feel that a lot of people in the audience related to what you were focusing on at the discussions? I think so. As a panellist, I always felt that I had the audience’s attention.
Did you browse through the book stores at the fest? Yes, I love books and I bought a few of them already (flaunting quite a huge stack of books she was carrying in a shopping bag).
Which one of these are you looking forward to reading the most? I’m very much looking forward to reading the two novels I bought written by Syed Shamsul Haque and a short story collection by Hasan Azizul Huq. I’m quite excited about reading this other book that I bought called The Absent Traveller which is a compilation of love poetries by Satavahana Hala, translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.
