It was a stage set for the 3 strong women to discuss the topic `The word surely is transgender- Why should there be a category of fem-writing' which was arranged at the venue `Under The Tree' on the 3rd day of the International Festival of Letters which was attended by a huge gathering.

The session went vibrant right from the word go on the compartmentalising and straight-jacketing of the topic, with the Sahitya Akademi award winning Malayalam writer K R Meera, noted Bengali novelist Paramita Satpathy Tripathy and blogger and writer Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan taking part in a heated discussion on the topic.

Begining the discussion, Paramita discussed the story of Thulasidas and Meera Bai on what gender the works have. Paramita is not happy at this kind of categorisation. Paramita is puzzled over what really is fem writing.

Meera began her speech dismissing the idea of fem-writing and said only  transgender writing is needed. Man is an attitude and women is a condition and tried to explain in Malayalam her anger over gender writing. Meera said she cannot be a woman while writing. Meera believes in genderless writing and plainly says she wanted to be a yakshi, wanting to drink blood from whoever is wanting to hurt the feelings.

Meera who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for her book Aarachaar (Hangwoman) reminisces an incident where after the book , she had received a mail from  a man who said he does'nt read books witten by women as it starts from the kitchen and  ends with the verandah.

Continuing on the topic, Meenakshi Reddy spoke about how a well known author had once said women writers are inferior. She objected to that and asked if women write with their uterus . Being a woman is an intrinsic part of Meenakshi Reddy's writing.

Paramita pointed out how beautiful books by women writers were  released and how could one say a writing is superior or inferior just by their gender.