Imayam

Imayam (b. 1964) is the pen name of V. Annamalai, a schoolteacher and writer in Tamil, who has published six novels, Koveru Kazhuthaigal (1994), Arumugam (1999), Chedal (2006), En Kathe (2015), Selladha Panam (2018), and Vaazhga Vaazhga (2020), as well as a novella, Pethavan (2014).

He also has to his credit six short-story collections, Man Baaram (2002), Video Mariamman (2008), Kolai Cheval (2013), Saavu Soru (2014), Narumanam (2016) and Nanmaaran Kottai Kathai (2019). He has won several prestigious awards, including the Agni Akshara Award (1994), Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers’ Association Award (1994), Amuthan Adigal Award for Literature (1998), Tamil Nadu State Award (2010) and Iyal Lifetime Achievement Award (2018). He has also been honoured by the government of Kerala.

Imayam won the Sahitya Academy award 2020 for Selladha Panam. Cre-A Publishers celebrated the silver jubilee of his first novel, Koveru Kazhuthaigal, which is considered one of the classics of present-day Tamil literature, by publishing a special edition last year.

This novel was translated into English by Lakshmi Holmstorm as Beasts of Burden. Arumugam and Pethavan have also been translated into English and French respectively.