D. Jayakanthan, 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 joined the Communist Party of India. In a career spanning six decades, he authored around 40 novels, 200 short stories, apart from two autobiographies. Outside literature, he made two films. In addition, four of his other novels were adapted into films by others.
Ashokamitran 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 prize-winning play "Anbin Parisu" and went on to author more than two hundred short stories, and a dozen novellas and novels. A distinguished essayist and critic, he was the editor of the literary journal "Kanaiyaazhi". He has written over 200 short stories, nine novels, and some 15 novellas besides other prose writings. Most of his works have also been translated into English and other Indian languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, and Telugu.
C. Viruthachalam, better known by the pseudonym Pudhumaipithan, was one of the most influential and revolutionary writers of Tamil fiction. His works were characterized by social satire, progressive thinking and outspoken criticism of accepted conventions. Contemporary writers and critics found it difficult to accept his views and his works were received with extreme hostility. He as an individual and his works have been extensively reviewed and debated for over sixty years since his death. His influence has been accepted and appreciated by the present day writers and critics of Tamil fiction. In 2002, the Government of Tamil Nadu nationalised the works of Pudumaippithan.
Balakumaran was an Indian Tamil writer and author of over 200 novels, 100 short stories, and dialogue/screenplay writer for 23 films. He also contributed to Tamil periodicals such as Kalki, Ananda Vikatan and Kumudam. His notable works as a dialogue writer in Tamil Cinema include Nayakan, Guna, Baashha and Pudhupettai.
Charu Nivedita is a Tamil writer based in Chennai, India. His novel Zero Degree (1998) was translated into English in 2013 and longlisted that year for the annual Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. It was also selected or the prestigious 50 Writers, 50 Books - The Best of Indian Fiction, published in 2013 by HarperCollins. Conversations With Aurangzeb won the Crossword Award in 2024.
Dr. 'Ampasayya' Naveen is a Telugu novelist. He is an Osmania University alumni, and his college life at OU inspired his first novel, Ampasayya. His novel Kala Rekhalu won the Sahitya Academy Award in 2004.
Sa. Kandasamy was a novelist and documentary film-maker from Mayiladuthurai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in Tamil for his novel, Vicharanai Commission in 1998.
K. V. Ramakrishna Iyer, better known by his pen name, Malayattoor Ramakrishnan, was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature, cartoonist, lawyer, judicial magistrate, and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He was best known for his novels, short stories and biographical sketches and his works include Yanthram, Verukal, Yakshi and Service Story – Ente IAS Dinangal. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel in 1967. He was also a recipient of the Vayalar Award in 1979.
Rayangala Shri Krishna Raja Narayana Perumal Ramanujam Naicker, shortened to Ki. Rajanarayanan and popularly known by his Tamil initials as Ki. Ra., was an Indian Tamil language folklorist and writer from Kovilpatti, in Tamil Nadu. Some of his popular works include Gopalla Grammam, Gopallapurathu Makkal, Mayamaan, and Nattuppura Kadhai Kalanjiyam. He was a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991.The Times of India called him the "Guardian of Tamil oral tradition".
M. V. Venkatram, was a Tamil, writer and translator from Tamil Nadu, India.
Nanjil Nadan is the pseudonym of G. Subramaniam, a Sahitya academy winning Tamil writer from Tamil Nadu, India.
Poomani is an Indian writer and novelist. He won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2014 in the Tamil language category for his novel Agnaadi.
Venmurasu is a Tamil novel by writer Jeyamohan. It is a modern renarration of the Indian classical epic Mahābhārata.
Perumal Murugan is an Indian writer, scholar and literary chronicler who writes in Tamil. He has written twelve novels, six collections of short stories, six anthologies of poetry and many non-fiction books. Ten of his novels have been translated into English: Seasons of the Palm, which was shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005, Current Show, One Part Woman, A Lonely Harvest, Trail by Silence, Poonachi or the Story of a Goat, Resolve, Estuary, Rising Heat, and Pyre He was a professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Salem Attur and Namakkal.
Imayam is an Indian Tamil-language novelist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He has eight novels, eight short story collections and a novella to his credit. Widely acknowledged for his realist mode of writing, his stories are known for their incisive exploration of societal intricacies. Closely associated with the Dravidian Movement and its politics, he is considered as one of the leading writers from South India. He is the recipient of the honorary Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Selladha Panam in 2020. He is also the first Tamil writer to receive the Kuvempu Rashtriya Puraskar National Award (2022) for bringing new sensibilites to Tamil literature through his writings. Noting the writer's proclivity to Dravidian ideals, the Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K.Stalin called him "an ideologue donned in black and red". He lauded Imayam calling him a "proactive writer" in the Dravidian movement.
Kailayar Sellanainar Sivakumaran (also known as K. S. Sivakumaran; is a Sri Lankan Tamil writer, art and literary critic, Journalist and radio and TV personality. He writes and broadcasts both in Tamil and English.
Era Natarasan, popularly known as Ayesha Natarasan, is an Indian writer of children's books. He writes in Tamil and English. He is the author of Ayisha / Ayesha that has sold millions of copies in 12 languages. He has written more than 150 books most of them on science and Science Fiction including Vigyana vikramadhithyan kadhaigal which won the "Bal Sahitya Puraskar Award" for Children Literature, awarded by Sahitya Academy.
Thathamangalam Damodaran Ramakrishnan is an Indian novelist, translator, and retired Chief Controller in Southern Railway. He has authored two best-selling Malayalam novels: Francis Itty Cora and Sugandhi Enna Andal Devanayaki. He is a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and Vayalar Award.
R. Kaliprasadh is a Tamil writer. He has written short stories, translations, and literary reviews and criticism.
E. V. Ramakrishnan is an English-Malayalam bilingual writer, poet and literary critic from Kerala, India. He received several awards, including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Literary Criticism and the Odakkuzhal Award. In 2023 Ramakrishnan received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his literary study Malayala Novelinte Deshakalangal.
