Protesting gender violence through an event showcasing essays, poetry, films and thought-provoking discussions

Humanising the world and empowering the society to find its own voice of protest to do away with gender and domestic violence – that’s the idea behind the launch of the book, Muffled Moans Unleashed, which will be held at an event “Feminine Fiesta” at Iran Society, on Kolkata’s Kyd Street, in collaboration with Green Tara Social Initiative on December 22.

“Feminine Fiesta” – an event marked with thought-provoking panel discussions, film screenings and the book launch will celebrate the spirit of revolt against violence on women and children all over the globe.

There will be thought-provoking panel discussions, book reading sessions on domestic violence by artists and intellectuals of Kolkata. There will be awareness through art, poetry and film screening sessions.

The Kolkata contributors of Muffled Moans Unleashed include Santasree Chaudhuri, founder of Green Tara Social Initiative, Sufia Khatoon, Amit Shankar Saha, Anindita Bose, Jagari Mukherjee, Moinak Dutta, Mallika Bhaumik, Rita Bhattacharjee, Poulome Mitra Shaw among others. During the anthology release, they will participate in the series of cerebral responses to the subject “Violence on Women”.

Muffled Moans Unleashed is a collection of poetry, true stories and non-fiction essays on abuse and gender-based violence written by poets, writers, artists and activists from all over the world.

Their sensitive, enlightening and intellectual voices echoing the spirit of dissent have been edited by Dr. Santosh Bakaya and Lopamudra Banerjee, two well-known socially conscious authors based in Jaipur and Texas respectively. There’s the testimony and collective consciousness of nearly 150 poets and writers from USA, UK, Australia, Nigeria, Poland, Ghana, Mexico among other places.

Banerjee, co-editor of the anthology, states in the preface of the book: “Some of them had to voice true stories of abuse that they had experienced, some had to turn to fiction to convey ‘a brave, startling truth’, for some, poetry was the choicest weapon to express their raw, naked, vulnerable emotions, unravelling the bitterness and inconsolable pain of abuse.”