Snippets from the Thriller Writers’ Panel Discussion at the Women Writer’s Fest, Kolkata
On Saturday 8th Feb, I traveled with my debut book ‘Deal of Death’ to The Saturday Club, Kolkata for an insightful discussion about women writing thrillers. The panel was moderated by Baishali Chatterjee Dutt and had prolific authors like Kiran Manral, Sharmistha Gooptu, and Damyanti Biswas along with me speaking on how ‘thriller’ was an umbrella genre comprising of various sub-categories. We focussed on the stereotyping that women writers face while writing books in a genre predominantly occupied by writers of the opposite gender. In an engaging and thought-provoking session, we shared our experiences of becoming writers in this genre and the way forward.
Sharing a couple of pictures and bits of my opinion recorded live.
The Thriller writers’ panelMeeting Anupriya, Damyanti, Paromita and Kiran Manral
The media coverage in the form of an article on the event is available here.
The full recording of the event is available on the FB page of Shethepeople.tv here.
An alumnus of Presidency College (Kolkata), Delhi University, and XIME (Bangalore), Sonia Chatterjee holds two post-graduate degrees in Chemistry and Management and an MFA in creative writing from Writer's Village University. With eight years of experience in the banking sector as a Branch Head, she took a sabbatical from the corporate world to start her blog soniasmusings.com. Her blog consistently featured in the Top Indian Blogs list from 2019 to 2024.
Her articles have been published on various digital platforms such as Women's Web, Youth Ki Awaaz, Tuck's Magazine, and Period Magazine. She was invited as a speaker at the Breaking Barriers, Kolkata 2018 event by the Women's Web, at the Women Writer’s Fest, Kolkata, 2020, and the Crime Writers Festival, Kolkata,2025.
Sonia has written two detective thrillers titled ‘Deal of Death – Introducing Raya Ray’ (2019) and ‘Diary, Deceit, and Death – A Raya Ray Adventure’ (Vishwakarma Publications, 2024) and a non-fiction book on true crime titled ‘The Sanyasi Who Became a King’ (Sristhi Publishers, 2025). Her book ‘Diary, Deceit, and Death’ was shortlisted for the PVLF Awards 2024-25 in the Best Fiction Category.
Sonia lives in Kolkata with her doctor husband and nine-and-a-half-year-old son.
View all posts by Sonia Chatterjee
One thought on “Snippets from the Thriller Writers’ Panel Discussion at the Women Writer’s Fest, Kolkata”
Thanks for sharing this information with us, your blog is very informative. Indian thriller literature has seen great popularity in the last few years, as it pulls the minds of readers with unimaginable cultural aspects, complex stories, and a wide range of characters. Today, we shall look more deeply at the unique writing styles that are used by some of the most famous Indian thriller authors, focusing on what makes their stories exciting and enjoyable.
soniasmusings 
Thanks for sharing this information with us, your blog is very informative. Indian thriller literature has seen great popularity in the last few years, as it pulls the minds of readers with unimaginable cultural aspects, complex stories, and a wide range of characters. Today, we shall look more deeply at the unique writing styles that are used by some of the most famous Indian thriller authors, focusing on what makes their stories exciting and enjoyable.
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