Rajam Krishnan
BornRajam Krishnan
1924 or 1925
Musiri, Tiruchirapalli district
Died20 October 2014

Rajam Krishnan (1924[1] or 1925 – 20 October 2014), was a feminist Tamil writer from Tamil Nadu, India.

Biography

Rajam Krishnan was born in Musiri, Tiruchirapalli district. She had very little formal education and appears to have been largely an autodidact.[2]

She started publishing in her twenties. She is known for writing well researched social novels on the lives of people usually not depicted in modern Tamil literature - poor farmers, salt pan workers, small-time criminals, jungle dacoits, under-trial prisoners and female labourers. She has written more than 80 books.[3] Her works include forty novels, twenty plays, two biographies and several short stories. In addition to her own writing, she was a translator of literature from Malayalam to Tamil.[4] In their anthology of Women's Writing in India in the 19th and 20th Century, Susie J Tharu and K Lalita credit Krishnan with "having set a new trend in Tamil literature," referring to the extensive research that Krishnan did in evaluating social conditions as background for her writing.[4]

In 1973, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for her novel Verukku Neer.[5] In 2009, her works were nationalised by the Government of Tamil Nadu, for a compensation of Rs. 300,000. It was a rare occurrence as only works of dead writers are usually nationalised in Tamil Nadu.[6][7][8]

Death

Rajam was left poor and destitute in her later years and had to be admitted to an old age home.[1] She died on 20 October 2014.[1]

Bibliography

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Awards and recognitions

References

  1. ^ a b c Kolappan, B. (22 October 2014). "Writer Rajam Krishnan dead". The Hindu.
  2. ^ Tharu, (ed), Susie (1993). Women Writing in India: The Twentieth Century. Feminist Press at CUNY. pp. 205–207. ISBN 9781558610293. ((cite book)): |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "Open to life and art". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 4 January 2004. Archived from the original on 11 March 2004. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  4. ^ a b Susie Tharu and K Lalita, Women Writing In India Feminist Press at CUNY, 1993) 203-206
  5. ^ Tamil Sahitya Akademi Awards 1955-2007 Archived 2010-01-24 at the Wayback Machine Sahitya Akademi Official website.
  6. ^ "Works of writer Rajam Krishnan to be nationalised". The Times of India. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  7. ^ C. S. Lakshmi (4 January 2004). "Metaphor for a generation". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  8. ^ Kumar, Sampath (17 July 2003). "India rights campaign for infanticide mothers". BBC News. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  9. ^ Susie Tharu and K Lalita, Women Writing In India (Feminist Press at CUNY, 1993) 203-206

External links

Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil
Authority control databases
Categories