Picture of author.

Meena Kandasamy

Author of When I Hit You

18+ Works 368 Members 12 Reviews

Series

Works by Meena Kandasamy

When I Hit You (2017) 222 copies
The Gypsy Goddess (2014) 43 copies
Exquisite Cadavers (2019) 36 copies
Ms Militancy (2010) 17 copies
The Book of Desire (2023) 13 copies
Desires Become Demons: Four Tamil Poets (2019) — Editor — 7 copies
Touch (2006) 4 copies
Afterlife (2020) — Author — 2 copies
Reis & Asche (2016) 2 copies
A Dalit History (2017) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Moment of Change (2012) — Contributor — 10 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1984
Gender
female
Nationality
India
Birthplace
Chennai, India
Places of residence
Chennai, India
England, UK
USA
Education
Anna University (PhD ∙ Soci-linguistics)
University of Iowa
University of Kent
Occupations
writer
social activist
translator
Short biography
Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy (born 1984) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist who is based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.Born in 1984 to Tamil parents, both university professors. Named as Illavenil by her parents, she developed an early interest in poetry, and later adopted the name Meena. Meena completed a Doctorate of Philosophy in Socio-linguistics from Anna University, Chennai. Meena wrote her first poetry at the age of 17 She has also represented India at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program and was a Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow at the University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom.

Apart from her literary works, she is vocal about various contemporary political issues relating to caste, corruption, violence, and women's rights in more ways than one. She has an influential and regular social media presence, through her Facebook and Twitter handles. She also writes columns for platforms like Outlook India and The Hindu, occasionally. This was primarily brought to light during the beef controversy at the Osmania University in Hyderabad in 2012. and also started translating books by Dalit writers and leaders into English at that age Most of her works are centered on feminism and the anti-caste Caste Annihilation Movement of the contemporary Indian milieu.

Members

Reviews

Part of my Galley Beggar Buddy subscription, I can't imagine I'd have come across this otherwise. It's ancient Tamil love poetry newly translated. It feels fresh and vibrant and is a beautifully produced book with the parallel text in Tamil opposite the English translations. The poems are many short verses, mainly on the subject of love and desire.
½
 
Flagged
AlisonSakai | Dec 11, 2023 |
*internal screaming*
 
Flagged
breathstealer | 7 other reviews | Sep 19, 2023 |
Nerve-wracking, heart-breaking and cringing essay(s) and poems.

I got to read this book after watching the Family Man 2 web series and Kanathil Muthathil movie. The plight of women in Tamil Eelam gave me an insight and this made me read more about the war. I wish to read more but this book by Meena Kandaswamy is absolutely gripping.
 
Flagged
BookReviewsCafe | Apr 27, 2023 |
This is a deeply moving and shocking account of how a woman becomes trapped in an abusive marriage, unable to break free. It is also a fractured picture of the woman who did eventually walk out and sought to re-build herself. And it's also an exploration of how she distanced herself from reality, both within the marriage and afterwards, through a writerly detachment so that the reader is never quite sure where the boundary lies between honest and fictitious, open and hidden. There is little focus on the husband or exploration of his motivation - the author's freedom to choose and it clearly would have been a different book with the addition of this element but it frustrated me at times. And there seems to be a sideline in addressing what might be termed feminist orthodoxy, not something I am familiar with so the point of it probably escaped me. Nevertheless a book which gives this reader much to ponder. July 2020… (more)
½
 
Flagged
alanca | 7 other reviews | Jul 30, 2020 |

Lists

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Statistics

Works
18
Also by
1
Members
368
Popularity
#65,433
Rating
3.9
Reviews
12
ISBNs
41
Languages
4

Charts & Graphs