Need to value women writing on women: Karnad

BANGALORE: How much attention do people pay to women writing about women? Not much; frameworks to ensure that such writing gets its due is what is needed in literature, said litterateur Girish Karnad at Lekhana, the city’s own literary fest at the National Gallery of Modern Art.
Karnad, who read from his autobiography to conclude the fest on Sunday, was earlier part of a panel debating various issues including women’s writing, autobiographies and women and bodies.
The veteran playwright recalled his mother's autobiography, which was one of the reasons why he wrote his own. “My mother’s work didn’t find its way into the lives of my nieces and nephews. It wasn't considered that important,” he said, implying that the work didn’t evoke great interest among people around her.
Karnad, who begins his autobiography with a statement about his mother and her work, suggested that writing about women by women wasn't taken very seriously by society, and that had to change.
Other panellists like Joshua, Kutti Revathi and Mamta Sagar spoke on women and bodies — why women should go beyond their bodies in their writing and that they shouldn’t be too embedded in writing about body alone.
The fest saw participation of 100 literature, theatre and culture enthusiasts. There were theatre performances and book readings apart from panel discussions.