Rajam Krishnan

Rajam Krishnan (Tamil: ராஜம் கிருஷ்ணன்; 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.[5]

In 1973, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for her novel Verukku Neer.[6] 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.[7][8][9]

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]

Partial bibliography

Awards and recognitions

References

  1. 1 2 3 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.
  3. "Open to life and art". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 4 January 2004. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  4. Susie Tharu and K Lalita, Women Writing In India Feminist Press at CUNY, 1993) 203-206
  5. Susie Tharu and K Lalita, Women Writing In India Feminist Press at CUNY, 1993) 203-206
  6. Tamil Sahitya Akademi Awards 1955-2007 Sahitya Akademi Official website.
  7. "Works of writer Rajam Krishnan to be nationalised". Times of India. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  8. C. S. Lakshmi (4 January 2004). "Metaphor for a generation". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  9. Kumar, Sampath (17 July 2003). "India rights campaign for infanticide mothers". BBC News. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  10. Susie Tharu and K Lalita, Women Writing In India (Feminist Press at CUNY, 1993) 203-206

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.