Rainbow pride month to get literary touch

CHENNAI: They have been a largely silent section of society but now they make their voices heard, not just through protests or marches, but by using the power of the written and spoken word. This year, the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) community in Chennai is marking Rainbow Pride month with storytelling, writing workshops and poetry reading sessions.
“What often brings LGBTs together are shared experiences of discrimination and isolation,” says L Ramakrishnan, a member of Saathii NGO and participant of Quilt reading group. “One way the community expresses itself is through public events like protests. Another powerful way is creating culture. This could be literary, artistic or theatrical.” Activities such as storytelling are not just cultural expressions but also a good way to connect with other communities.
Poetry reading sessions and writing workshops are a platform to present their work. “People write about their body, relationships and feelings,” says theatre professional Srijith Sundaram, who organised a poetry reading session.
While these events are part of the Pride month celebrations, there is a concerted effort being made all year to bring together people interested in literature. Orinam’s Quilt, a queer literature group that meets every month, was launched in December 2012. “It is a social as well as reading group where people share their stories and discuss other books,” says Senthil Kumar, who was instrumental in launching Quilt.
“There is quite a bit of writing done by LGBT people in Tamil Nadu. On orinam.net, there is poetry, short fiction and non-fiction in both Tamil and English,” says Aniruddhan Vasudevan, who blogs on the site.
The state is also home to authors such as Priyababu and Revathi. Transwoman Priyababu has four books to her credit. Transwoman Revathi’s autobiography “The Truth About Me’ was translated into English by writer V Geetha. “It has been introduced in the curriculum of universities in India and abroad,” says Revathi.
Aniruddhan and Priyababu also conduct writing workshops. “I want to focus on ways to break the diffidence, fear, and vulnerability that covers our hearts and keeps us from writing,” says Aniruddhan.
The aim is to create a body of LGBT literature as well as reach out to the world. “I want to encourage more members of the community to write so that others get to know about us,” says Priyababu. Her dream is to create a transgender resource and empowerment centre. “There are a lot of students who do research and documentation. We could collect these and create a library,” she says.