Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
poet and columnist. She has also been active as a theatre actor and a freelance journalist for Kannada publications.
Family
Kanaka hails from Halikere,
Shimoga
Shimoga, officially known as Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the central part of the state of Karnataka, India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of ...
district in Karnataka. She is married to P. C. Vishnunath and the couple have one child.
Work
Three collections of her poetry have been published by Akshara Prakashana which is run by
Ninasam
Ninasam (Kannada: ನೀನಾಸಂ) is a cultural organisation located in the village of Heggodu in Sagar Taluk of the Shivamogga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Ninasam (also spelt as Neenasam) is the short form of Sri NIlakantesh ...
Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 200 ...
's book Tarkash to Kannada. Her poems are featured on Poetry International Rotterdam and have been translated into English and French. Kanaka also used to write columns for Kannada publications including
Lankesh Patrike
''Lankesh Patrike'' is an Indian vernacular weekly published in Kannada language from Bangalore, Karnataka.
The weekly newspaper was started by P. Lankesh in 1980 on the lines of ''Harijan'', a newspaper published by Mahatma Gandhi. The week ...
and Kannada daily
Udayavani
''Udayavani'' ("Morning Voice" in Kannada) is a Kannada daily newspaper with editions from Manipal, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hubballi, Davanagere and Gulbarga. Launched in January 1970 by Mohandas Pai and T. Satish U Pai, Udayavani with a combined ci ...
. While working with SPARROW ( Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women) she translated poems and interviews of Urdu, Marathi and Kannada writers and edited books on them.
She is a founder member and Director of PAMPA (People for Performing Arts and More) which has organized the SIWE (South Indian Writers Ensemble) at
Chengannur
Chengannur (also spelled Chengannoor or Chenganur) is a Municipality in the Alappuzha district of Kerala State, India. It is located in the extreme eastern part of the Alappuzha district, on the banks of Pamba River.
Chengannur is north of ...
for the last 3 years.
In November 1997, she attended the International Poetry Biennale at Ivry Sur Seine, France along with other well known poets like
Kanimozhi
Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (born 5 January 1968) is an Indian politician, poet and journalist. She is a Member of Parliament, representing Thoothukkudi constituency in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India's Parliament). She was also a former M ...
and
Bei Dao
Bei Dao (, born August 2, 1949) is the pen name of the Chinese-American writer Zhao Zhenkai (S: 赵振开, T: 趙振開, P: ''Zhào Zhènkāi''). Among the most acclaimed Chinese-language poets of his generation, he is often regarded as a candida ...
.
Selected publications
* Holebagilu (The River Gate,1993)
* Papanashini (The Destroyer of Sins, 1997)
* Arabi emba kadalu (The Arabian Sea, 2006)
* Battalike (Tarkash, 2003)