Meena Kandasamy

Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy (born 1984) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.[1]

In this Indian name, the name Kandasamy is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Meena.
Meena Kandasamy
Meena in 2012
BornIlavenil Kandasamy
12 October 1984 (age 36–37)
Pen nameMeena
OccupationWriter, activist, translator
NationalityIndian

Meena published two collections of poetry, Touch (2006) and Ms. Militancy (2010). From 2001-2002, she edited The Dalit, a bi-monthly alternative English magazine of the Dalit Media Network.[2]

She 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. She writes columns for platforms like Outlook India[3] and The Hindu.[4][5][6]

Early life and education

Born in 1984 to Tamil parents, both university professors,[1][7][8] she developed an early interest in poetry, and later adopted the name Meena.[9] Meena completed a Doctorate of Philosophy in Socio-linguistics from Anna University, Chennai.[1] She began writing poetry at age 17 [10] and began translating books by Dalit writers and leaders into English.[11]

Professional career


As a writer, Meena's focus was mainly on caste annihilation, feminism and linguistic identity.[12] She says, "Poetry is not caught up within larger structures that pressure you to adopt a certain set of practices while you present your ideas in the way that academic language is" and thus, prefers to use it for her activism.[13] One of her first collections, Touch was published in August 2006, with a foreword by Kamala Das.[1] Ms. Militancy was published the following year.[1] In this book, she adopts an anti-caste and feminist lens to retell Hindu and Tamil myths.[13] Other works such as Mascara and My lover speaks of Rape won her the first prize in all India Poetry competition.[14]

Touch was criticised for its English language errors, though its challenging themes were described as "interesting".[15] Ms. Militancy was described as an improvement in her use of the English language but "disastrous, if not worse" in terms of themes and content.[15] A review in The Hindu put the negative criticism into context, describing Meena's work as difficult for anyone whose politics were "mainstream".[8] Her poetry is "about the female self and body in ways not 'allowed' by this discourse".[8] An analysis of Touch and Ms Militancy in the Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies concludes that Meena "authors a poetic discourse that not only castigates the prevalent modes of subjugation but also resolutely strives towards futures that are yet to be born."[16] In an interview with Sampsonia Way Magazine, Meena said "My poetry is naked, my poetry is in tears, my poetry screams in anger, my poetry writhes in pain. My poetry smells of blood, my poetry salutes sacrifice. My poetry speaks like my people, my poetry speaks for my people."[13]

Her work has been published in anthologies and journals that include Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry,[17] The Little Magazine, Kavya Bharati, Indian Literature, Poetry International Web, Muse India, Quarterly Literary Review, Outlook, Tehelka and The New Indian Express.[18] She was also invited to participate in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 2009[12] [1] Two years later, Meena was made the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow at the University of Kent.[12] Meena was made a featured poet at the City of Asylum Jazz Poetry Concert held in Pittsburgh, the 14th Poetry Africa International Festival (2010), Durban and the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival (2011).[19] She co-authored AYYANKALI: A Dalit leader of Organic Protest, a biography of Ayyankali, a dalit leader in Kerala.[20] Meena was shortlisted among 21 short fiction women writers aged less than 40 from South Asia for an anthology published by Zubaan, New Delhi, the country's first feminist publishing house.[21] In 2014, she published a novel about the Kilvenmani massacre titled The Gypsy Goddess, influenced by the figure of Kurathi Amman, her "ancestral goddess".[10] From January 2013, she began working on a book titled Caste and the City of Nine Gates, her first non-fiction work.[12]

As activist

Meena works closely with issues of caste and gender and how society puts people into stereotypical roles on the basis of these categories.[22] She has faced threats for her fearless criticism of the Hindu society, to which she says, "This threat of violence shouldn’t dictate what you are going to write or hinder you in any manner.”[23]

Osmania University "Beef Festival" Controversy

In 2012, a group of Dalit students of Osmania University, Hyderabad, organised a beef eating festival to protest against the "food fascism" in hostels. It saw participation from over 200 people, including both teachers and students who ate various dishes made of beef. The right-wing student group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged protests against the event and the organisers, turning the campus into a "battlefield."[24] Meena attended this festival and spoke in support of it. For the same, she had to face incessant abuse online. [23][25] The Network of Women in Media India (WMNI) released a press-statement condemning the attack on her.[26] [27]

As translator

Meena has translated prose and poetry from Tamil.[28] She has translated the work of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Thol. Thirumavalavan and Tamil Eelam writers such as Kasi Anandan, Cheran and VIS Jayapalan into English.[19] Speaking about her role as translator, she says "I know that there is no limit, no boundary, no specific style guide to poetry—that you are free to experiment, that you are free to find your own voice, that you are free to flounder and also free to fail once in a while because all this happens all the time when you translate."[9]

As actor

Meena made her acting debut in the Malayalam film, Oraalppokkam.[29] It was the first online crowd funded independent Malayalam feature film.[30]

Notable works

Biographies
  • (with M. Nisar) AYYANKALI: A Dalit leader of Organic Protest. Foreword by Kancha Ilaiah, Other Books, Calicut, January 2008, pp. 103.

Poetry
  • Ms. Militancy,[15] 2010, published by Navayana

“Ms Militancy”, the title poem of this volume, is based on Kannaki, the heroine of the Tamil Classic Silapathikaram. This poem is a call to women to be revolutionary and courageous like the heroine herself.

  • TOUCH.[15] Published by Peacock Books, Mumbai in August 2006, ISBN 81-88811-87-4.
  • (Chapbook) 16 elegant, untitled poems have been hosted as an e-chapbook The Eighth Day of Creation on the poetry website Slow Trains.
  • #ThisPoemWillProvokeYou & Other Poems, chapbook, HarperCollins India, 2015.
  • We Are Not The Citizens, limited edition handmade chapbook (53 copies), Tangerine Press, London, 2018.

Novels
  • The Gypsy Goddess, Atlantic Books, April 2014.[31]
  • When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife, Atlantic Books, May 2017. It was shortlisted for Women's Prize 2018.[32]
  • Exquisite Cadavers, Atlantic Books, 2019.

Translations
  • Talisman: Extreme Emotions of Dalit Liberation, Thol.Thirumaavalavan, Samya (Kolkata) 2003.
  • Uproot Hindutva: The Fiery Voice of the Liberation Panthers, Thol. Thirumaavalavan, Samya (Kolkata), 2004.
  • Why Were Women Enslaved, Thantai Periyar E.V.Ramasamy, The Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution (Chennai), 2007.
  • Waking is Another Dream: Poems on the Genocide in Tamil Eelam, D.Ravikumar (editor), Ravishanker (co-translator) Navayana Publishing (New Delhi), 2010.
  • (editor/translator): Desires Become Demons: Poems of Four Tamil Woman Poets: Malathi Maithri, Salma, Kutti Revathi, Sukirtharani, Tilted Axis Press (Sheffield), 2018.

References
  1. "INDIA Being Untouchable (press release)" (PDF). Christian Solidarity Worldwide. 27 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  2. "Poetry International Rotterdam". Archived from the original on 25 March 2019.
  3. "Outlook India". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
  4. "The Hindu". Archived from the original on 18 January 2016.
  5. "Porterfolio". Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  6. "Huffington Post".
  7. Warrier, Shobha (21 May 2012). "They don't like women who are flamboyant about sexuality". Rediff.com. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  8. Jeyan, Subash (6 March 2011). "In a language darkly..." The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  9. Singh, Pallavi (8 March 2010). "Dalits look upon English as the language of emancipation". Mint. HT Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 3 August 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  10. Rangan, Baradwaj (29 April 2011). "The Politics of Poetry". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  11. "Independent". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
  12. "Meena Kandasamy". The Hindu. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  13. "Sampsonia Way". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  14. "Poetry collection". The Hindu. 19 February 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  15. Tellis, Ashley (30 January 2011). "Poems of an outdated, designer feminism". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  16. Chakraborty, Abin; Jana, Ujjwal (2012). "Venomous Touch: Meena Kandasamy and the Poetics of Dalit Resistance" (PDF). Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies. 3. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  17. "Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry". BigBridge.Org. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  18. International Writing Program (IWP). "Meena Kandasamy – 2009 Resident". University of Iowa. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  19. "Poetry Connections feat. K. Satchidanandan" (PDF). Arts Council England. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  20. Nisar, M.; Kandasamy, Meena (2007). Ayyankali – Dalit Leader of Organic Protest. Other Books. ISBN 978-81-903887-6-4.
  21. "21 under 40: New Stories for a New Generation". Zubaan. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  22. "Wall Street Journal". Archived from the original on 2 October 2016.
  23. "Independent.co.uk". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
  24. "NDTV". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
  25. "Storyful". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
  26. "Feminists India". Archived from the original on 12 June 2017.
  27. "Outlook". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
  28. Nair, Supriya (9 August 2012). "In verse proportion". Mint. HT Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  29. "Moving the Masses". The New Indian Express. 14 November 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  30. "Crowd-funded movie in the making". The Hindu. 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  31. Maranovna, Tuppence (9 May 2014). "The Gypsy Goddess by Meena Kandasamy". tuppencemagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  32. Faleiro, Sonia (19 May 2017). "When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy — murder on the mind". FT.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
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