Gender, Caste & Class – Anjali Joseph, Meena Kandasamy, Perumal Murugan and Nilanjana S. Roy join Roanna Gonsalves for a conversation about the challenge of writing about gender, caste and class within India’s rich, complex and diverse literary culture. Mon 04 Mar, 3:45pm at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden North Stage.
Fire Bird –Perumal Murugan with Roanna Gonsalves Mon 04 Mar, 3:45pm at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden North Stage.
PERUMAL MURUGAN is an Indian writer, scholar and literary chronicler who writes in Tamil. He has written twelve novels, six collections of short stories, six anthologies of poetry and many of the non-fiction books. Ten of his novels have been translated into English: Seasons of the Palm, which was shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005, Current Show, One Part Woman, A Lonely Harvest, Trail by Silence, Poonachi or the Story of a Goat, Resolve, Estuary, Rising Heat, and Pyre He was a professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Salem Attur and Namakkal.
In 2014, One Part Woman (“Mathorupagan” in Tamil) generated controversy when some caste groups objected to the theme. And, Perumal decided never to write again. The issue went to the Madras High Court and in its verdict it said: “The choice to read is always with the reader. If you do not like a book, throw it away. All writings, unpalatable for one section of the society, cannot be labelled as obscene, vulgar, depraving, prurient and immoral. The author and artistes like him cannot be under a constant apprehension that if he deviates from the oft-treaded path, he will face adverse consequences. Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write.” (5 July, 2016 and cited in the Wikipedia)
The novel generated acclaim across the world. Post- verdict Perumal started writing again.
The writer will also be visiting Sydney and Melbourne after the Adelaide Writers’ Week.
