30 January - 3 February 2025 | Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur
M. Mukundan is one of the most reputed contemporary fiction writers in Kerala. He has to his credit 19 novels and 8 collections of short stories. His stories and novels have been translated into most of the major Indian languages, English and French.
When he started writing his stories in the early 60s, Kerala’s political and cultural life was going through a transformation. Unemployment was rampant, cultural life had stagnated as the Progressive Literary Movement had started decaying. It was in this socio-cultural scenario that Mukundan appeared on the literary scene in Kerala, publishing his early short stories in the prestigious Mathrubhumi weekly.
It is with the publication of his novel 'On the banks of the Mayyazhi' that Mukundan achieved mass popularity in Kerala. Over the years Mukundan has been instrumental in helping Malayalee readers develop new sensibilities with innovation in form and content of his fictional oeuvre.
His novel Delhi Gathakal was published in 2010 & last year Westland published its English translation, Delhi: A soliloquy. This novel has been shortlisted for the JCB Literary Award 2021. Mukundan has been conferred over 20 awards and honours, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, the First Crossword award for Indian fiction in English translation and the Chevalier of the Arts and Letters from the French Government.
Writer and former diplomat M. Mukundan’s acclaimed book, Delhi: A Soliloquy, is an evocative and unflinching look into the lives of Malayali migrants in post partition New Delhi, grappling with the questions of identity, poverty and nostalgia. Co-translated from Malayalam to English by Fathima E.V. and Nandakumar K., the book is an ode to Delhi and its deeply imbibed spirit of survival in times of war and peace. Mukundan worked in Delhi for forty years as a Cultural Attaché at the French Embassy. His award-winning books include On the Banks of the Mayyazhi and Kesavan’s Lamentations. Award-winning writer and translator E.V. Fathima has translated Subhash Chandran’s Manushyanu Oru Amukham as A Preface to Man. She was the translator-editor of the Indian Ink Mag. This book is Editor and Translator Nandakumar K’s first published translation from Malayalam. In a conversation with AJ Thomas, they explore the roots of this Malayalam classic and the process of its translation.