‘We need more gay writing in India’

Queer writing is a ghetto in the world of literature, but we need this ghetto so we can kick it off as a separate category. This is the point Hoshang Merchant, author, and editor of India’s first book on queer literature Yaarana: Gay Writing From India, tried to make at a panel discussion on queer writing, on the third day of the Tata Literature Live festival at the NCPA. “If we don’t have a separate category for gay writing, literary criticism will not consider it at all,” he said.

Not many mainstream publishing houses bring out books on gay literature, he stated. “So, there aren’t enough book editors in India on the lookout for good gay literature. And most gay writing is almost as if from the cognoscenti to the cognoscenti,” he said.

The oppression faced by each marginalised community —women, Dalits, LGBT, etc — is different, he said. “They all need their own voice to be heard. Only then will we make it into the mainstream,” said Merchant, whose autobiography, The Man Who Would Be Queen, will hit bookstores soon.

Giti Thadani, LGBT activist and author of Sakhiyani, who was also on the panel, added that gay writing in languages other than English should also be considered. Partner by Bindumadhav Khire, for instance, is a widely acclaimed novel on gay writing, but it’s in Marathi. Merchant said that, as a writer reaching out to people, “You must speak their language. Once you speak, you have expressed yourself and are no longer the ‘victim’.”

We don’t have enough queer writers in India, bemoaned Merchant. “I don’t even know what’s happening in my own community let alone all the other oppressed communities,” said Merchant. “I know it takes a lot of effort to tell your story, but more people must make that effort.”