Imayam (writer)

Imayam (writer) Biography

Imayam is a prominent writer of Tamil in the present times. His real name is V. Annamalai, and he is best known as a novelist of Tamil. He has close links with state politics and Dravidian Movement. Many of his works has been translated to English, French and other languages. His most acclaimed works are 'Koveru Kazhudhaigal' and 'Arumugam'. As of now he has published 5 novels apart from five short story collections and a novella. His first novel Koveru Kazhudhaigal was a matter of hot debate on Dalit topics. Anantha Vikatan Award, Agni Akshara Award, Amudhan Adigal Literature Award and Puthiya Thalaimurai Award are some of the awards received by him.

V. Annamalai was born in the year 1964 in Meladanur. The family later shifted to Vriddhachalam. His higher studies were completed at Trichy. Since college days, he was interested in learning more about Sri lankans as well as Russian literature, and regularly read a lot of books for this purpose. Once he happened to attend a writer’s workshop, and that’s how he started thinking to write. His first novel Koveru Kazhudhaigal was critically well acclaimed, and was a matter of debates. Thus he came to limelight since the publication of his first novel, and he continued writing fictional stories and novels.

He has been appreciated and also criticized on his ideas and works on dalits. Yet his debut novel 'Koveru Kazhudhaigal' won many awards including Agni Aksara Award, Amudhan Adigal Ilakkiya Award for Literature and a few more. The novel has been translated to Malayalam and English languages. Imayam's second novel, 'Arumugam', released in 1999 was translated to French language.  His novella 'Pethavan' was published in 2012.

Published: September 04, 2018

Updated: September 04, 2018