TIRUPPUR: Noted Tamil writer N Rajasekaran (Devi Bharathi) won the Sahitya Akademi Award for 2023 for his novel ‘Neervazhi Paduum’ announced on Wednesday. “This is the biggest recognition of my literary career,” the writer told TNIE.
“I am delighted. My family members are even more delighted. This award is a big recognition for my 40-year-long literary career. I am a passionate reader and I took the first step into the Tamil literary world through my short stories.
These short stories were published in small literary magazines in the end of 1970s and early 1980s. Some of them received good attention and were later published in popular magazines. The short plays that I wrote in the 1980s also got good response.
My interest in writing novels started in 2000. My first novel, Nizhalin Thanimai, was published in 2011,” the writer said. Rajasekaran (Devi Bharathi) is a native of Nathakadaiyur in Kangeyam taluk in Tiruppur district. He was born in 1957.
His father Nallamuthu was a government schoolteacher. Rajasekaran completed his schooling at Chennimalai near Erode District. Later, he worked for some time as junior assistant in the state education department. He took voluntary retirement in 2006.
He also continued as editor for several literary magazines in the early 2000s. He was also the editor of Kalachuvadu, a highly regarded Tamil literary magazine. His first short story was published in 1978. His stories were widely published and translated into English, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and French. His novel Nizhalin Thanimai is being translated into English and will soon be published by Harper Collins.
Other winners
Telugu writer T Patanjali Sastry and Malayalam author E V Rama krishnan were among the others named for the Sahitya Akademi Awards in 2023