Description
It is possible to call these stories as belonging to the ‘women’s world’ as literary critics are wont to do. Since they have been doing it for years, it is easy to label these stories as such. But these stories are about a world where women and men live. It is about the knots and tensions of that world. They are about life. — CS Lakshmi (Ambai)
These stories talk about the physical violence committed on women in the name of relationship, friendship, love and affection that never come to light but happen every day over and over again in all corners of the world. I can vouch that any woman who reads these stories will definitely revisit a dark day from her childhood. A friend of mine told me explicitly that she had experienced every single act of violence captured in these stories. … It may seem as if these stories vilify men. Unfortunately, these are stories about the love that men allow to diminish. Men and women need each other only for that love. If the man or the woman lets that love fizzle, then life becomes tricky. The woman rescinds. The man resorts to inflicting pain on her body. This man-made society feeds newer and fresher ways of violating a woman’s body. — A Vennila
A Vennila, a luminary in Tamil literature, hails from Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, leaving an indelible mark on the literary landscape. A prominent poet and writer, she has significantly enriched the Tamil literary world with her profound understanding of cultural nuances and deep connection to Tamil heritage and contemporary themes. Vennila’s evocative language and poignant exploration of human emotions resonate with readers, embodying feminist ideologies, particularly evident in her short stories. Notably, this dedication to her craft also earned her the prestigious Tamil Nadu Government Award for Best Poetry, cementing her position as a leading voice in the Tamil literary landscape. Her notable novels, Gangapuram, explore historical narratives, particularly the lives of Emperor Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola. Another significant contribution is the Tamil historical fiction series Neeradhikaaram, unraveling the incredible tale behind the construction of the Mullai-Periyar Dam in South India. Vennila’s literary acumen, marked by acclaim for ‘Neeradhikaaram,’ solidifies her status as a pioneer in Tamil literature, seamlessly fusing history, emotion, and societal relevance in her captivating works. This is Vennila’s first published collection of short stories.
Janani Kannan grew up in and spent most of her young adult life in Chennai. However, she has strong connections to rural Tamil Nadu as she comes from a large family that migrated to the city less than a generation prior. Growing up, she used to spend all her summer vacations with her siblings and many cousins in her grandfather’s house in rural Tamil Nadu. She whiled away many a summer day roaming about freely in her grandfather’s farmlands or shadowing their farm help when they tended to the cows. She thoroughly relished listening to her mother and her aunts relating family stories and folklore, particularly being fascinated by the myriad witty aphorisms that are unique to village upbringing. Although she herself formally learned to read and write Tamil in school, it was not until she moved to New York to pursue her career in Interior Architecture that she rediscovered her passion for storytelling in Tamil. She started reading works of contemporary Tamil writers and, in her spare time, began to experiment with translating some short stories to English as a hobby. It was in New York that Janani met the Tamil writer Ambai who then introduced her to A Vennila to translate her works to English. She has since translated novels and short stories by eminent writers, including Perumal Murugan, Salma, Su Ra, Imayan, Latha, Shobashakti and Vannanilavan. Her translation of Perumal Murugan’s novel Fire Bird received the 2023 JCB Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for Crossword Popular Choice Award in 2024.’
