One Part Woman
| Perumal Murugan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966 |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Notable works | Madhorubagan (novel) |
Perumal Murugan is an Indian author, scholar and literary chronicler who writes novels in Tamil. He has written six novels, four collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry to his credit. Three of his novels have been translated into English: Seasons of the Palm, which was shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005, Current Show and One Part Woman. He was a professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Namakkal.
Perumal Murugan was born in 1966 to a family of farmers who had small land holdings near Thiruchengodu, a town in northern Kongunadu. His father, a farmer, supplemented the family's income by running a soda shop in a cinema theatre in Thiruchengode. Murugan began writing from an early age, and some of his early lyrics for children's songs were featured on programmes broadcast by the All India Radio.
Murugan initially studied Tamil literature both as an undergraduate, in Erode and as a postgraduate in Coimbatore. He went on to obtain an M. Phil. from Madras University in Tamil studies, and followed by a Ph.D. His doctoral thesis focused on the works of Kongu author R. Shanmugasundaram.
As a professor of Tamil literature, Murugan has made several contributions to research and academic study of Tamil literature specific to the Kongunadu region, including building a lexicon of words, idioms and phrases special to Kongunadu. He has also extensively researched and documented Kongu folklore, especially the ballads on Annamar Sami, a pair of folk deities. In addition, Murugan has worked on publishing authoritative editions of classical Tamil texts. He has also republished works of literature relating to the Kongu region. One commentator notes that "In sum, his over 35 books provide a veritable cultural map of the Kongu region." Murugan taught as professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Namakkal. but was forced to leave Namakkal following assaults and protests by right-wing Hindu and caste groups, and now heads the department of Tamil literature at a government college in Attur, Tamil Nadu. In between, he briefly taught at the Presidency College in Chennai.
Murugan is the author of six novels, and four collections each of short stories and poems, as well as six books of non-fiction relating to language and literature, in addition to editing several fiction and non-fiction anthologies. Several of his novels have been translated into English, including Seasons of the Palm and Current Show. He has also written a memoir, Nizhal Mutrattu Ninaivugal (2013).
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