VAASANTHI is a renowned author and journalist who writes in English and Tamil. She has been writing in Tamil for more than forty years and has published thirty novels, six short-story collections and four travelogues. Her books in English include Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars: The World of Tamil Politics, Amma: Jayalalithaa's Journey from Movie Star to Political Queen, The Lone Empress: A Portrait of Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi: A Definitive Biography, and Rajinikanth: A Life. Her works in Tamil have been translated into Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, English, Norwegian, Czech and Dutch. Two of her novels have been made into films in Malayalam. She is the recipient of several awards in Tamil Nadu including the Best Short Story Writer award, Best Novel award for Ammani, and the Gyana Bharathi award. She has received the UP Sahitya Sansthan award and the Punjab Sahitya Akademi award for the Hindi and English translations of her novels, respectively. She was the editor of the Tamil edition of India Today for nearly ten years in Chennai. Now a freelance writer and journalist, she lives in Delhi. N Kalyan Raman Devibharathi was born and raised in a small village in western Tamilnadu, the second of fi ve children in a schoolmaster's family. He has worked as a political activist, government employee, journalist, managing editor of a leading literary magazine and script-writer for television programmes. During a writing career spanning more than thirty-fi ve years, Devibharathi has published two collections of short stories, a novel, a play, and two non-fi ction anthologies containing essays and memoirs. He is currently at work on his second novel. Farewell, Mahatma is his fi rst work of fi ction in English translation. N Kalyan Raman is a well-known translator of contemporary Tamil fi ction and poetry. He has so far published six books of Tamil fi ction in English translation. His translation of Tamil poetry has been published widely in literary journals and anthologies of Indian poetry. He also contributes book reviews and essays regularly to leading magazines and journals. He lives and works in Chennai.
<p style="margin: 6px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">‘Doesn’t this life strike you as shameful?’</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">‘I am an artist. That’s the only thing that matters to me.’</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">Kasturi and Lakshmi are born into the devadasi clan. While Kasturi thinks of nothing other than the joy she experiences when she’s dancing before the deity in the temple, Lakshmi is troubled by the treatment dasis receive from society, the secretive manner of her father’s visits to their house, and his reluctance to acknowledge her publicly as his daughter. To the surprise of those around her, instead of learning to dance, a frustrated and angry Lakshmi insists on getting an education, and becomes a doctor. As their paths diverge, the differences in their opinions cause a rift in Kasturi and Lakshmi’s relationship. But when tragedy strikes, Kasturi’s faith in tradition is shaken and she finds herself turning to Lakshmi once again.</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">Set against the rising clamour for India’s independence,<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"> Breaking Free</em> is a nuanced and thought-provoking story of three generations of women and the effect history and memory–and secrets–have on their lives. Brilliantly translated by N. Kalyan Raman, it brings Vaasanthi’s Tamil masterpiece to an entirely new readership.</p><div><p style="margin: 6px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">Plunges the reader into the varied and turbulent world of devadasis, bringing the complexities of their history to life — GITANJALI KOLANAD</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">A powerful story, told with clarity and insight, about some of the young girls who suffered and the few who fought back — KAVERY NAMBISAN</p><div><br></div><div class="other-info" style="margin: 25px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;"></div></div>
