Sa. Kandasamy (23 July 1940 – 31 July 2020) was a

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and documentary film-maker from

Mayiladuthurai Mayiladuthurai (formerly known as Mayavaram or Mayuram) is a town and district headquarter of Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located at a distance of from the state capital, Chennai. Mayiladuthurai was ruled by Mediev ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in Tamil for his novel, ''Vicharanai Commission'' in 1998.

Life

Kandasamy was born on 23 July 1940 in

, in the Indian state of

. After studying at the Singaram Pillai School, he worked at the Chennai Port Trust and the

Food Corporation of India Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingest ...

. Kandasamy later moved to Chennai, and joined a writers' group that included writer

S. Ramakrishnan S. Ramakrishnan is a writer from Tamil Nadu, India. He is a full-time writer who has been active over the last 27 years in diverse areas of Tamil literature like short stories, novels, plays, children's literature and translations. He has w ...

and artist R.B. Baskaran. They briefly published a literary magazine, ''Ka Sa Da Tha Pa Ra.'' He died at the age of 80, after experiencing a heart attack.

Literary career

Kandasamy's first novel was ''Saayavanam Puthinam,'' published in 1968. It was well-received and was later included by the National Book Trust as one of Indian literature's modern masterpieces. ''Saayavanam'' is one of the earliest examples of literature focusing on ecological concerns in India, and focuses on forest clearances and industrial development in Tamil Nadu. Kandasamy based on the novel on his own experiences in rural Tamil Nadu, and named the novel after a village that he had lived in with his family, as a child. His novel, ''Vicharanai Commission,'' which dealt with custodial violence and the police, won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil in 1998. He has published seven novels and several collection of short stories, in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

. One of Kandasamy's novels, ''Tholaindhu ponavargal'' was adapted for television. In addition to fiction, Kandasamy wrote several pieces of criticism, focusing on visual arts and writing in Tamil Nadu, as well as introducing a series of Tamil biographies published by the Sahitya Akademi.

Film Making

Kandasamy's documentary film, ''Kaval Deivangal'', documented history and techniques relating to traditional terracotta art in South India. It won the first prize at the Angino Film Festival, in Cyprus, in 1989. In addition, Kandasamy also directed several other documentaries, primarily on popular Tamil writers and artists, including the sculptor S. Dhanapal, and writers

Jayakanthan D. Jayakanthan (24 April 1934 – 8 April 2015), popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he join ...

and

Ashokamitran Ashokamitran (22 September 1931 – 23 March 2017) was the pen name of Jagadisa Thyagarajan, an Indian writer regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-independent Tamil literature. He began his prolific literary career with the pr ...

Publications

Novels

* ''Saayavanam Puthinam'' * ''Suriya Vamsam'' * ''Visaranai Commission'' * ''Avan Aanathu'' * ''Tholaindhu Ponavargal'' (''Those Who Are Lost'') * ''Perum Mazhai Natkal'' * ''Neelavan''

Awards and honors

* (1998)

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

- for his novel, ''Vicharanai Commission'' * (1995)

Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship The Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship, also known as Lalit Kala Akademi ''Ratna'' (Sanskrit ''ratna'', "gem") is an honor for the fine arts in India. It is awarded to eminent artists for their lifetime achievements in the field of visual arts by the ...

- for contributions to literature

References

External links

* 1940 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Indian novelists Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Tamil Novelists from Tamil Nadu People from Mayiladuthurai district {{India-writer-stub