C T Online Desk: The AKSB Auditorium at Bangla Academy offered attendees of the Dhaka Lit Fest a number of invigorating sessions on day two, with all seats filled up for every session.
A panel discussion titled “Blazing Ahead” was held in the late afternoon on Friday, with Onjali Q Raúf and Kishwar Chowdhury as panelists and author Munize Manzur acting as the moderator.
British author Onjali Q Raúf and MasterChef Season 13 runner-up Kishwar Chowdhury discussed topics such as identity, sexism in professional fields and feminist ideals. With prompts provided by Manzur, the conversation kept rolling, and was met with laudation from the audience.
Chowdhury expressed her need to identify as a proud Bengali-Australian, and stated that both Indian and Bangladeshi influences have shaped her cooking. She also talked about the astounding lack of female figures in most professional fields, especially in the kitchen, but iterated that not every woman in power should have to be responsible to dismantle the systemic sexism that exists.
Raúf echoed similar sentiments, and said that despite having to face discrimination and racism on a regular basis for her ethnicity and religious beliefs, the children’s author chooses not to be a spokesperson for millions of people of similar background. Instead, her focus is on telling all kinds of engaging stories to children, who are not concerned with what the author looks like.
The participants of the session also touched upon the negativity public figures often face on social media, and agreed that people must begin to assess what they want to put out into the world.
The session was filled to the brim with inspirational messages from both panelists, and ended with a cheering audience.
