Luminaries from the literary and art world at the inauguration of Soi Mela Boi Mela. Picture by Amit Datta

The UK has its Orange Prize, an award for the best fiction written by a woman. The US has its Madcat Film Festival for independent and experimental films and videos directed by women from around the globe. Calcutta can now boast of a women-only event on its cultural calendar: Soi Mela Boi Mela.

The jury is still out on whether special prizes and reservation work for women, but then women have always wanted a room of their own and “soi” is a felicitous word in the context of the book fair, meaning both an intimate friend a woman has and a signature.

The fair, “the very first women’s book fair in India, where only books written by women, books published by women, and books written about women or regarding gender issues are exhibited and sold”, started last year. This year the fair kicks off on Sunday on Rabindra Sadan Grounds and will be held till December 13. The permanent theme is “Creative Women for Peace”, says its founder president, writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen.

“There will be more than 30 publishers this time,” says Dev Sen. Ten publishers are from New Delhi, including Zuban and Women Unlimited. The fair will have stalls set up by the Publishers’ Guild, Thema, Stree, Tulika, Purple Peacock and Bingsha Shatabdi.

Women with redoubtable reputations will grace the fair. The opening ceremony will be a tribute to five leading artist(e)s, writer Indira Raisom Goswami from Assam, dancer Amala Shankar, painter Shanu Lahiri, actor Shobha Sen and film-maker Aparna Sen. The focus will be on the east. Writers Nirupama Baragohain from Assam, Pratibha Rai from Orissa, Temsula Ao from Nagaland and Mamang Dai from Arunachal Pradesh will attend. Professor Martha Nussbaum, revered philosopher and feminist theorist from Chicago University, will fly over.

Cultural programmes will be held at Victoria Memorial as part of the fair.

Jashodhara Bagchi, state women’s commission chairperson, will conduct a session on women in publishing. There will be readings from the works of male writers of the Fifties; stage actors Usha Ganguli and Shaoli Mitra will perform; controversial writer Taslima Nasreen will be sighted; Karuna Chitrakar, a pata artist, will be painting live. At a session on December 11, women who find it difficult to publish their works will get the opportunity to read out from their works.