Perumal Murugan

Perumal Murugan was born in 1966 in Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu. He is the author of six novels, four collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry in Tamil. 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 began writing at a very young age and wrote many different things like a diary, various narratives and poetry. Marxist education and reading Periyar were some of the influences that shaped him and his work. They introduced him to issues such as politics, gender discrimination, caste discrimination, and offered a deep understanding of Tamil Nadu. Murugan has no interest in sports and travels only if there is a compulsion to do so.

He makes up for that by listening to Tamil film music and Carnatic music at home. He has composed certain keerthanas specially for T.M. Krishna. He desires to be in close communion with nature, in a house that is surrounded by trees and filled with cows and goats.

Agriculture is an activity he enjoys and he often thinks that his life would have been happier had he lived it as a farmer. Currently he works as a professor in a college. Murugan lives in Namakkal.