Meena Kandasamy

Meena Kandasamy was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Meena Kandasamy (b. 1984) is an anti-caste activist, poet, novelist and translator. Her writing deconstructs trauma and violence while spotlighting the militant, collective resistance against caste, gender and state oppression. She explores this overarching theme in her books of poems Touch (2006) and Ms. Militancy (2010), and her three novels: The Gypsy Goddess (2014), When I Hit You (2017), Exquisite Cadavers (2019). Her novels have been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, International Dylan Thomas Prize, Jhalak Prize and Hindu Lit Prize.  She holds a PhD in sociolinguistics.

 

Image credit Varun Vasudevan.