Chitralekha, P. Valsala’s last novel, released

Discover the legacy of writer P. Valsala through her last novel Chitralekha, exploring women's relationship with nature and freedom.

“P. Valsala was a writer who performed the democratic duty of showing us on the face what we would have missed otherwise,” said writer B.M. Suhara.

Speaking after the release of Valsala’s last novel Chitralekha in Kozhikode on Friday, Ms. Suhara said the organic relationship between women and nature was inherent in all of Valsala’s works.

Mayor Beena Philip released the book by handing it over to Ms. Suhara. “Valsala teacher was not a feminist. But she had a sense of freedom inside her right from childhood,” Ms. Philip said, recalling her fluctuating narrative style.

Researcher J. Manju pointed out that Valsala had deviated from the typical style of women writers in language as well as content, and that Chitralekha, the protagonist of the unfinished book, had a mark of Valsala on her.

Chitralekha tells the story of a 15-year-old girl from post-Independence Kerala who travelled to Patna in Bihar to learn nursing and later chose to remain there to work. The novel progresses through the perspective of Chitralekha and her friend Padma and has a dearth of strong male characters in it. “The work offers a contradiction between the sense of nation that we study in textbooks and the reality,” Ms. Manju said.

Director of Kelu Ettan Padhana Gaveshana Kendram K.T. Kunhiannan presided over the event.

Chitralekha is the last work of Valsala who passed away in November 2023. Having penned over 25 short stories and 17 novels, Valsala was the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Ezhuthachan Award and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.