Five-time National award winner, Vairamuthu’s novel, Kallikaatu Idhikasam, which won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2003, will be translated into 23 Indian languages. What is more, it is to be done by the prestigious Academy itself. Some of the languages that the book will be translated into, include Assamese, Bengali, Dokhri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odiya , Punjabi, Telugu and Sanskrit.
Kallikaatu Idhikaasam is a novel that tells the tale of the inhabitants of 14 villages who were asked to vacate their homes when a dam was built over the Vaigai river. The book, which has sold over a lakh copies until now, was released in London. The then Education Minister of the country, Stephen Tims, and the Mayor of London, Robin Wales, insisted that the book be translated in English as well.