CHENNAI: A day after economist Jean Dreze flagged that a book was falsely attributed to him, Tamil writer and novelist M Sakthi alias Sakthi Surya has alleged that 42 titles have been registered under his name without his knowledge or involvement, and have been supplied to the Periyar Arivulagam in Coimbatore. Incidentally, most of the books have been published by the publishers in question — Akal Vilakku Pathippagam and Phoenix Publications.
Speaking to TNIE, Sakthi said that he came to know about such fake books only after his friends in Coimbatore visited Periyar Arivulagam and found the books with his name as author. Expressing shock, he said such work of some publishers would bring disrepute to his work and he would take legal action against the publishers. “It’s not about loyalty for books, or credit issues. It’ll dampen the image of the writer, what the writer stands for and his knowledge on subjects,” he said.
As per ISBN records from the Raja Rammohun Roy National Agency for ISBN, a total of 46 books have been registered under Sakthi Surya’s name, of which he claims to have written only four. The remaining 42 books were not authored by him, he exclaimed.
Of the 42 ISBN registrations, 11 were obtained on a single day, November 1, 2025, according to the records. The ISBN entries for the books attributed to him span the period between December 22, 2023, and November 25, 2025. The publishers listed in the records include Akal Vilakku Pathippagam, Phoenix Publications, Pallavi Pathippagam, Discovery Publications, Bharathi Puthakalayam, Ethir Veliyedu and Om Prasuram.
“The time period during which 42 books were registered gives a suspicion that there is no such author,” he said, adding that he has decided to take legal action against the publishers.
Sakthi Surya has authored three novels — Naravettai, Santhali and Senthatti.