Prayas

“I feel proud to represent women facing violence through creative expression.” –

Survivor who regularly contributes to Prayas

Prayas means ‘endeavour’ in Bengali and it has certainly been a successful endeavour since its inception in 1998. Prayas is a quarterly magazine that is written and edited by survivors themselves. It contains poetry and prose primarily in Bengali with occasional pieces in Hindi and English. Every issue has theme for which material is generated through a writing workshop and there are always new women contributing to each issue. The survivors use it as a platform to reach out to other women facing similar problems and the wider community. It is an extremely effective way in which women can register their protest against the violence they face and communicate their experiences, dreams, and desires through poems, short stories, drawings and articles. The Prayas Editorial Board now also conduct their own creative expression workshops for survivors highlighting their ability to shoulder more responsibility and inspire yet more writers. In 2013, the 50^th issue of Prayas was celebrated with the release of a special edition – a collection of selected works chosen from the previous 49 issues. And in 2017 a bilingual compilation (Bengali/English) of 26 poems written by survivors was published as the book ‘Echoes’. These poems date back to 2006 and are all taken from Prayas issues over the years. The book was launched with a grand ceremony which was covered by the local press. In 2019, the 75th issue of Prayas namely Pratifalan was published in Bengali and Reflections in English translation, with selected prose from the earlier 74 issues. These publications are shared with other survivors, NGOs and local communities. The contributors also share the copies at Kolkata’s Book Fair to generate awareness about women’s rights among the general public. Survivor's writings from Prayas, Echoes, Reflections - Click here (please link to from the survivor's pen)

Prayas

Echoes

Reflections and Uttaran

A poem from Echoes:

We Want Peace

“We want peace – not strife. We want to love all life. Infighting in our nation. Women’s degradation. Caste discrimination. Such mad intoleration. Will bring devastation. They have to understand. Or the nation will disband.”