KR Meera

K R Meera is a writer and a journalist from Kollam, Kerala, born on 19^th February 1970 at Sasthamcotta, Kollam. She completed her pre-degree from D.B. College, Sasthamcotta, and did a Master’s degree in Communicative English from Gandhigram Rural Institute, Tamil Nadu. She has published five collections of short stories, two novellas, five novels, and two children's books.

She was passionate about writing since childhood; her mother’s favorite writer was M.D. Ratnamma, a famous Malayalam novelist. Meera thought writers were unique and started to read almost all the Malayalam literary works written by famous writers, which made her realize that she is not good enough to be called a writer. But she didn’t give up and decided to choose a profession that requires more reading and writing. Thus she chose journalism and joined as a journalist in Malayala Manorama Channel in 1993. She was the first female journalist hired by the newspaper; she used to write short fiction for the newspaper. In 2002, her first short story titled ‘Ormayude Njarambu’ got published with which she gained popularity. After that, she continued to contribute many novels and short stories; in 2006, she quit journalism and decided to become a full-time writer.

She writes fiction in Malayalam and essays in English; a few of her Malayalam literary works have been translated into English, like ‘Mohamanja’ as ‘Yellow is the color of Longing,’ ‘Meerasadhu’ as ‘The Poison of Love,’ ‘Yudasinte Suvishesham’ as ‘Gospel of Yudas’, etc. She has also worked as a screenplay writer for four serials and has won awards for her writings. She won the ‘Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013 for the best novel and short story. She got ‘Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award’ in 2015, the ‘Valayar Award,’ ‘Odakuzhal Award.’ Her Malayalam novel ‘Aarachar’ has been regarded as the best Malayalam novel that has ever written.

E.V. Krishna Pillai, Kamala Das, and T Padmanabhan are her favorite Malayalam writers; Gabrial Garica Marquez is her favorite English writer. Being a famous writer, she doesn’t have any particular literary ambitions, and she wants to write more and make unique stories.