P. Sivakami

In 1989, P Sivakami became the first Tamil dalit woman to write a novel—Pazhaiyana Kazhidalum. A literary and commercial success, the novel created a stir by taking on patriarchy in the dalit movement. Translated by the author, it was published in English as The Grip of Change (Orient Longman) 2006. Sivakami has written four novels, numerous short stories and poems. She is founder-editor of the literary magazine Pudiya Kodangi. The English translation of her acclaimed second novel Anandayi is being published by Penguin in 2010. Sivakami was secretary-ranked bureaucrat in Tamil Nadu till 2008, when she quit the administrative service, joined the Bahujan Samaj Party, contested the Lok Sabha poll from Kanyakumari and lost. In December 2009, she founded her own political party, Samuga Samathuva Padai (Forum for Social Equality).