Chapter - 18
When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife

- Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy

Question- Write the life and works of Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy.

Answer - 

Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, she was born in 1984 to Tamil parents, both university professors. She developed an early interest in poetry and later adopted the name Meena. She completed a Doctorate of Philosophy in socio-linguistics from Anna University, Chennai. She began writing poetry at age of seventeen and began translating books by Dalit writer and leaders into English. Meena published was two collection of poetry "Touch (2006) and Ms. Militancy (2010). From 2001-2002, she edited "The Dalit, a bi-monthly alternative English magazine of the Dalit Media Network. Kandasamy presented India at the University of lowa's international writing program and was a Charles wallance India Trust Fellow at the University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom. She writes columns for platform like outlook India and 'The Hindu'.

Her professional careet begins as writer, Meena's focus was mainly on caste annihilation, feminism and linguistic identity. She says, "Poetry is not caught up with in larger structures that pressure you to adopt a certain set of practices while you present your ideas in the way that academic language is "and thus, prefers to use it for her activism. One of her first collections, 'Touch' was published in August 2006, with a forward by Kamala Das. 'Ms. Militancy' was published the following year. In this book, she adopts an anti- caste and feminist lens to tell Hindu and Tamil myths. Other works such as 'Mascara and My Lover speaks of Rape won her the first prize in all India poetry Competition.

Her work has been published in anthologies and journals that include. Anthology of contemporary Indian poetry, "The Little Magazine, Kavya Bharati. Indian Literature, Poetry International Web, Muse India, Quarlerly Literary Review, Outlook, Tehelka and the New India Express'. She was also invited to participate in the international Writing Program at the University of lowar in 2009. Two years later, Meena was made the Charles Wallance India Trust Fellow at the Univessity of Kent. She was a featured poet at the

city off Asylum Jazz Poetry Concert held in Pittsburgh the 14th poetry Africa International Festival (2010). Durban and the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival (2011). She co-authored AYYANKALI : A Dalit leader of organic protest, a biography of Ayyankali, a dalit leader in Kerala. Meena was shortlisted among 21 short fiction women writers and less than 40 from South Asia for an anthology published by Zubaan, New Delhi in 2014, She published a novel about the Kilvenmani massacre titled The Gypsy Goddess, influenced by the figure of Kurath: Ammun, her "ancestral goddess". From January 2013, She began working on a book titled caste and the city of Nine Gates, her first non- fiction work.

As an activist, Meena works closely with issues of caste and gender and how society puts people into stereotypical roles on the basis of these categories. She has faced threats for her fearless criticism of the Hindu society, to which she says. "This threat of violence shouldn't dictate what you are going to write or hinder you in any manner.

In 2012, a group of Dalit students of Osmania University, Hyderabad, organized a beef eating festival to protest against the "food fascism" in hostels. The right wing student group Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged presents against the event and organizes. Meena attended the festival and spoke in support of it. She faced incessant abuse online as result. The network of Women in Media India (WMNI) released a press statement, condemning the attack on her.

As a translator, Meena has translated prose and poetry from Tamil. She has translated the work of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Thol. Thirumavalavan and Tamil Ealam writers such as Kasi Anandan, Cheran and VIS Jayapalan into English Speaking about her role as translator. She says, "I know that there is no limit, no boundary, no specific style guide to poetry that you are free to experiment, that you are free to find your own voice, that you are free to flounder and also free to fall once in a while because all this happens all the time when you translate.

As an actor Meena made her acting, debut in the Malayalam film, Oraalppokkam. It was the first online crowd funded independent Malayalam feature film.

Meena won Hermann Kesten Prize (2022) by PEN Centre Germany.
Her Notable works Biographics (with M. Nisar) AYYANKALI: A Dalit Leader at Organic Protest. Foreward by Kanchy Ilaiah, other books, Calicut January 2008.

Poetry - "M.S. Militancy", the title poem of this volume. is based on Kannaki, the heroine of the Tamil Classic Silapathi -

Karam - This poem is a call to women to be revolutionary and courageous like the heroine herself.

• TOUCH : Published by Peacock Books Mumbai in August 2006, ISBN 81-.88811-87-4.

• (Chapbook) 16 elegant, untitled poems have been hosted as an e- chapbook The Eighth Day of Creation on the poetry website slow trains.

• # This Poem Will Provoke You & Other Poems, Chapbook, harper Collins India, 2015.

• We Are Not the Citizens, limited edition handmade chapbook (53 copies), Tangerine Press, London, 2018.

Novels : The Gypsy Goddess, Atlantic Books, April 2014. When I hit you: Or, A portrait of the writer as a young wife, Atlantic Books, May 2017. It was short listed for women prize 2018.

• Exquisite Cadavers, Atlantic Books, 2019

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