Malathi Maithri (born 1968) is an Indian writer, activist and feminist, who is recognised as a distinguished poet in contemporary Tamil literature.[1] Maithri has been the recipient of the Tirupur Tamizh Sangam Award and the State Award for Poetry by the Government of Puducherry.[2] She is also the founder of a publishing house called Anagu (transl. Woman) which has translated works of Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie such as Purple Red Poppy and We Should All Be Feminists.[3]

Biography

Maithri was born in the Indian union territory of Puducherry in 1968,[1] to a family of fishers. According to The Hindu, being from a Tamil fisher family granted her some degree of independence as a woman and has been influential in her style of poetry.[4] Her first publication, a short story titled Prayanam was featured in the premier Tamil literature magazine Kaniayazhi in 1988.[1] She rose to prominence around the same time in early 2000s as did a number of other Tamil women writers such as Salma and Sukirtharani.[5] Her poems are described to allude to gender issues as a recurrent theme,[1] and as transgressive in style.[4] Maitri states that Periyar E. V. Ramasamy has been one of her biggest influences in her work,[6] that in his time, he had had called for "uterine politics" as the need of the hour which did not take off, because of which she has decided to employ aggressive rhetoric in her publications and activism, described as "vaginal politics" by her.[7] She has also been critical of the current state of feminism which according to her has become reduced to being controlled and marketed by corporate interests and as a result compromising in search of acceptability.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Malathi Maitri". Poetry International Web. 1 November 2008.
  2. ↑ "Malathi Maithri". Sangam House. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  3. 1 2 Palinivalan (25 January 2018). "டெல்லியில் நிறவெறி தாண்டவமாடுகிறது: கவிஞர் மாலதி மைத்ரி பேட்டி". Hindu Tamil Thisai (in Tamil). Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 Muralidharan, Kavitha (31 August 2013). "Forward, in the past". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. ↑ "An Introduction to 'Wild Words: Four Tamil Poets'". Harper Broadcast. HarperCollins. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  6. ↑ Mohanakrishnan, Ramani (24 December 2017). ""கேள்விகளுக்கு விடை தந்தவர் பெரியார்" #RememberingPeriyar". Vikatan (in Tamil). Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  7. ↑ "'ஆண்மை என்ற வார்த்தையை அழித்தெறியுங்கள்!' - சீறும் கவிஞர் மாலதி மைத்ரி". Vikatan (in Tamil). 22 February 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
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