Meena Kandasamy

Meena Kandasamy, also known as Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy, is a well-known Indian writer, translator, actor, activist, and a poet. She was born in the year 1984.  Meena is a Tamil in origin. Her parents are professors. Meena holds an extremely prestigious degree of Ph.D. (Doctorate of Philosophy) in Socio-linguistics. Meena was an ardent writer since her childhood. She always loved to express her view and opinion.

Her works and writing focus on feminism and obliterate cast discriminations that exist in the Indian backdrop. She is a political activist who works for causes and raises her voice for issues such as corruption, caste discrimination, women's rights, and domestic violence. Meena wrote her first piece of writing when she was seventeen. Her earliest work was poetry.

Meena has represented India in a writing program conducted at the University of Lowa, in 2009. She is the youngest individual to do so. She has also done a fellowship at the University of Kent, in the year 2011. Her first-ever collection of poetry was the Touch in 2006. She is also the publisher of the compilation named Ms. Militancy. Her work got published in many journals like The New Indian Express, Poetry International Web, Kavya Bharti, and many others. Meena was a part of many events as a featured poet such as in Africa International Festival in 2010, DSC Jaipur Literature Festival in 2011, and many more.

Her poem sheds deep emotions stained with deep thoughts and commotion. Her many works are also featuring the Dalits and their problems and the harsh reality of society. Meena stepped into the film industry with her debut in the film Oraalppokkam which was a crowd-funded movie. Meena was the lead in the film.

Her first novel was The Gypsy Goddess, released in 2014. This book gave an account of the massacre in 1968 of the forty-four poor and landless laborers. Meena is a strong, fearless, and woman with fierce expressions. Meena had a failed marriage and has suffered violence. Based on her real-life incident, she wrote the book 'When I Hit you: Or, A Portrait of the Writers as a Young wife, published in May 2017. The bestseller highlighted causes such as domestic violence and enfolded the silence surrounding it. Her work got recognized and got shortlisted for the Women's Prize in 2018. She has written many poems, novels, and Done many transitions. For translating Salma's Manamiyangal, she won the PEN Translates award. Meena was ranked amongst the twenty-one short fiction women writers from South Asia, who got highlighted in Zubaan, Delhi.

Meena Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)