Lakshmi Holmström
Lakshmi Holmström லட்சுமி ஹோம்ஸ்ட்ராம் | |
|---|---|
 Holmström at 2013 Jaipur Literature Festival | |
| Born | 1 June 1935 Salem, Madras Presidency, British India (now in Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Died | 6 May 2016 (aged 80) Norwich, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Author, translator in English |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford University of Madras |
| Period | 1973–2016 |
| Genre | Tamil – English translation |
| Subject | Women, classical and contemporary literature |
| Notable works | Sangati (trans.) Karukku (trans.) In a Forest, A Deer |
Lakshmi Holmström MBE (Tamil: லட்சுமி ஹோம்ஸ்ட்ராம்; 1 June 1935 – 6 May 2016[1][2]) was an Indian-British writer, literary critic, and translator of Tamil fiction into English. Her most prominent works were her translations of short stories and novels by contemporary writers in Tamil, such as Mauni, Pudhumaipithan, Ashoka Mitran, Sundara Ramasami, C. S. Lakshmi, Bama, and Imayam.
Education[edit]
She obtained her undergraduate degree in English literature from the University of Madras and her postgraduate degree from University of Oxford. Her postgraduate work was on the work of R. K. Narayan.
Career[edit]
She settled in the United Kingdom and was the founder-trustee of SALIDAA (South Asian Diaspora Literature and Arts Archive) – an organisation archiving the work of British writers and artists of South Asian origin.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
From 2003 to 2006 she was a Fellow of The Royal Literary Fund at University of East Anglia in Norwich, Norfolk, England.
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2011 for services to literature.[9]
Death[edit]
She died of cancer on 6 May 2016 in Norwich, aged 80.[1]
Bibliography[edit]
| Year | Title | Genre | Role | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Indian Fiction in English: the Novels of R. K. Narayan | Criticism | Author | Writers Workshop, Calcutta |
| 1990 | The Inner Courtyard: Short Stories by Indian Women | Short story anthology | Editor | Virago Press, London |
| 1992 | A Purple Sea
(Original author: Ambai) |
Short story anthology | Translator | Affiliated East-West Press |
| 1994 | Writing from India: Figures in a Landscape | Editor | Cambridge University Press | |
| 1996 | Silappadikaram and Manimekalai (illustrated) | Epics | Translator | Orient Blackswan |
| 2000 | Karukku
(Original author: Bama) |
Novel | Translator | Oxford University Press |
| 2001 | Beasts of Burden
(Original author: Imayam ) |
Novel | Translator | Manas |
| Waves: An Anthology of Fiction and Poetry Translated from Tamil | Anthology | Editor | ||
| 2002 | My father's Friend
(Original author: Ashokamitran) |
Anthology | Translator | Sahitya Akademi |
| 2003 | Pudumaippittan: Fictions | Anthology | Translator | Katha, Chennai |
| That's It But
(Original author: Sundara Ramaswamy) |
Short fiction | |||
| 2004 | Mauni: A Writers' Writer | Criticism | Author | |
| Waterness
(Original author: Na Muthuswamy - Neermai ) |
Short story anthology | Translator | ||
| 2005 | Sangati
(Original author: Bama) |
Novel | Oxford University Press | |
| Clarinda, a Historical Novel
(Original author: A. Madhaviah) |
Novel | Sahitya Akademi | ||
| 2006 | In A Forest, A Deer: Stories
(Original author: Ambai) |
Short story anthology | Katha, Chennai | |
| 2009 | The Hour Past Midnight
(Original author: Salma) |
Novel | Zubaan | |
| The Penguin Book of Tamil Poetry: The rapids of a great river | Poetry anthology | Editor-translator | Penguin Books | |
| 2012 | A Second Sunrise
(Original author: Cheran Rudramoorthy) |
Poetry anthology | Translator
(with Sascha Ebeling) |
Navayana |
Awards[edit]
- 2000 Crossword Book Award in the Indian language fiction translation category for Karukku by Bama
- 2006 Crossword Book Award in the Indian language fiction translation category for In a Forest, A Deer by C. S. Lakshmi
- 2007 Iyal Virudhu Lifetime Achievement Award given by The Tamil Literary Garden, Canada
- 2015 Crossword Book Award in the Indian language fiction translation category for Children, Women, Men by Sundara Ramaswamy[10]
- 2016 The A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for translation from a South Asian language, awarded by the Association for Asian Studies for Children, Women and Men, originally published as Kuzhandaigal, Pengal, Aangal by Sundara Ramaswamy, Penguin Books India
References[edit]
- ^ a b Amanda Hopkinson, "Lakshmi Holmström obituary", The Guardian, 18 May 2016.
- ^ "Our lady of Tamil literature". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
- ^ Manoj Nair (23 April 2001). "A Number of Great Indian Writers Are Not Known in the Rest of the World". Outlook Magazine. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Current Fellows – Lakshmi Holmström". The Royal Literary Fund. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Sangati Events". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "The Hutch Crossword Book Award 2006 for Indian Language Fiction Translation". Crossword Bookstores. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ Malashri Lal (29 June 2009). "On Back Stage". Outlook Magazine. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Tamil poems find an English audience". The Times of India. The Times Group. 22 August 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 17.
- ^ Zafar Anjum (29 April 2015). "India: Raymond Crossword Book Award 2014 winners announced". kitaab.org. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1935 births
- 2016 deaths
- Tamil-language writers
- Indian Tamil people
- 20th-century Indian translators
- University of Madras alumni
- Alumni of the University of Oxford
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- Indian emigrants to England
- British writers of Indian descent
- Women writers from Tamil Nadu
- 20th-century Indian women writers
- 20th-century Indian novelists
- 21st-century Indian women writers
- 21st-century Indian novelists
- Indian historical novelists
- Indian women novelists
- 21st-century Indian biographers
- 20th-century Indian short story writers
- Indian women short story writers
- 20th-century Indian biographers
- Indian women translators
- 21st-century Indian translators
- Novelists from Tamil Nadu
- Writers from Chennai
- British people of Tamil descent
- Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
- Indian women biographers
- Indian literary critics
- Indian women literary critics