Mooknayak 2024: Only annual Marathi LGBTQIA lit fest in country begins in Pune on December 8

Anil Ukarande, president, Yutak Charitable Trust, and one of the organisers said the problems and expressions of the LGBTQIA community have long been neglected by mainstream literary gatherings. “Inspired by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s thoughts, we have been organising the Mooknayak LGBTQIA literary festival to provide a platform for Marathi affirmative LBTQIA literature,” he added.

The organisers expect at least 150 participants including panellists. Among them are Shubhi, the first transgender student of Fergusson College who will read her poems on LGBTQIA. Shubhi said being a transgender woman presents its own unique set of challenges. “Surviving these trials requires immense courage and resilience and this event has filled me with an empowering sense of strength and purpose. This is a precious platform where I can share my thoughts, struggles and hopes,” Shubhi said.

According to Ashok Row Kavi, India’s first LGBTQIA activist, the Marathi literary festival “gives a voice to sexual minorities to add to the spectrum of human voices about our existence on this piece of rock in the solar system”. “It says we too have the same human qualities and it may surprise others what a vibrant and versatile lot we are,” Kavi said.

For Sonali Dalvi, a transgender activist, the sad part is that although the SC granted them reservation in the NALSA judgment, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act , 2019 does not provide reservation for transgender people. “So we are now requesting horizontal reservation for transgender people. The resolution and signatures in support of the resolution will be sent to the Ministry of Social Justice,” Dalvi said.

At the event ACP Bhanupratap Barge (retd), Geetali V M, Editor of Milun Saryajani and Purush Uvach, Ashok Row Kavi, Lakshmikant Deshmukh (president of Baroda Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan 2017) and others will be felicitated. Eminent child psychiatrist Dr Bhooshan Shukla and Bindumadhav Khire will speak about the definitions and statistical usage in LGBTIQ-related literature while a special session of Palak Katta has also been arranged for parents of LGBTQIA to speak about their experiences and interact with the audience.