Indira Parthasarathy conferred with Sahitya Akademi Fellowship

He had won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1977 for his novel Kuruthipunal

Noted playwright, writer, scholar and critic Indira Parthasarathy was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship by the Sahitya Akademi on Tuesday.

The fellowship, which is India’s highest literary honour, is presented to distinguished scholars of outstanding literary merit. The number of Akademi fellows at a given time is restricted to only 21.

“I always consider myself as an Indian writer writing in Tamil. I write in Tamil because this is the only language with which I am historically and culturally content, and the language which I think I can use reasonably well to express my thoughts and feelings,” the writer said.

Recalling his journey, Mr. Parthasarathy spoke about how he was a teacher of Tamil literature for 36 years, but to be a teacher and a modern creative writer in the language was considered an apparent contradiction back in the days when his books started getting published.

“As a creative writer living in the present, I believe that literature is a living, artistic expression of stability, change, continuity, innovation, history and progress. When people ask me why I write, I say that I seek my own identity, and it is also my responsibility to myself and the society,” he said.

Further elaborating, he spoke about how creative writing is a ‘social act’. “I know I have to be exceptionally aware of people around me. This will naturally involve a personal, social and moral responsibility. It is necessary that I have compassion, involvement and clarity,” Mr. Parthasarathy added.

A Padma Shri awardee, he has published 16 novels, 10 plays and anthologies of short stories and essays. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977 for his novel Kuruthipunal and is the only Tamil writer to have received both the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.