India's first transgender poet's meet held in Kolkata

India’s first poet’s meet for the transgender community – ‘Transgender Poet’s Meet’ was held at the Sahitya Akademi today. This is the first such government-sponsored event organised by Sahitya Akademi, which is a part of the Union Ministry of Culture. 

The two and a half hour event was chaired by India’s first college principal Manabi Bandyapadhyay, who shared a lot of poems that she had written. This apart, six other transgender poets – Rani Majumdar, Aruna Nath, Anjali Mandal, Debdutta Biswas and Debojyoti Bhattacharya participated in the meet. Each of the poets was given close to 15 minutes to recite their poetry. In addition to this, the event also had two guest transgender poets, who also recited their poem.

Speaking at the occasion she said, “Such poet’s meet will only encourage the transgender community. We all have such talents but do not get the opportunity that we deserve. I’m thankful that Sahitya Akademi has come forward in support of the transgender community.” 

Add WION as a Preferred Source

In the wake of the judgement on Section 377 being reserved today by the Supreme Court, Bandhyapadhyay said that she is hopeful of a positive outcome. “The country hugely respects us and thus they have recognised us a third gender. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will pass a judgement in our favour.”

While Sahitya Akademi has many centres across the country, the Kolkata branch was the first one to hold a one of its kind and first ever Transgender Poet’s meet in Kolkata. The officer-in-charge, Eastern Region, Sahitya Akademi, Mihir Sahu said, “We have hosted several women empowerment sessions and events in the past. But, when Manabi Bandyapadhyay came to me saying that she wanted us to host a transgender poet’s meet, I could not say a no. In fact, a lot of people from Delhi are calling me and congratulating me for taking this step forward.