Sukirtharani is an Indian

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

poet who is widely acclaimed for her contribution to contemporary

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

and

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

. Sukirtharani is also a Tamil teacher at the Government Girls High School in Ranipet District, and has a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and Tamil literature. Her works include six published collection of poems. The works themselves have been described as celebratory towards the female body and a chastisement of the oppressive

caste system Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

which encapsulate a dual experience of being born both a female and a dalit. Her works have also been noted to have an

eco-feminist Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...

approach to them. She has featured alongside the poets

Kutti Revathi S. Revathi (pen name: Kutti Revathi) is an Indian lyricist, poet, activist and doctor. She has published three books of poetry and is the editor of ''Panikkudam'', a literary quarterly for women's writing and also the first Tamil feminist magaz ...

, Malathi Maithri and

Salma The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene (0.011 Ma). These periods are referred to as a ...

Lakshmi Holmström Lakshmi Holmström MBE (1 June 1935 – 6 May 2016Amanda Hopkinson"Lakshmi Holmström obituary" ''The Guardian'', 18 May 2016.) was an Indian-British writer, literary critic, and translator of Tamil fiction into English. Her most prominent wor ...

's translated compilation ''Wild Girls Wicked Words.'' Holmström in her anthology describes Sukirtharani as one who seeks "an infant language with all the rough and physical reality of new birth, sticky with blood".

Awards

She has received a number of awards such as the Thevamagal Kavithoovi Award, the Pengal Munnani Achiever Award and the Puthumaipitthan Memorial Award.

Selected works

Collections

* ''Kaipattri Yen Kanavu Kel'' * ''Iravu Mirugam'' * ''Kaamatthipoo'' * ''Theendapadaatha Muttham'' * ''Avalai Mozhipeyarthal'' * ''Ippadikku Yeval''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukirtharani Living people Tamil poets Indian feminist writers 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Indian women poets Tamil-language writers Women writers from Tamil Nadu Year of birth missing (living people) Dalit writers