K. Srilata (also known as Srilata Krishnan) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and academic based in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. Her poem, ''In Santa Cruz, Diagnosed Home Sick'' won the First Prize in the All India Poetry Competition (organized by the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

and The Poetry Society (India)) in 1998. She has also been awarded the Unisun British Council Poetry Award (2007) and th
Charles Wallace writing residency
at the University of Sterling (2010). Her debut novel
Table for Four
' was long-listed in 2009 for the

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to write ...

and released in 2011. Srilata’s most recent collection of poems
Three Women in a Single-Room House
' was published b
Sahitya Akademi
in 2023. Her critically acclaimed book
This Kind of Child: The ‘Disability’ Story
', which brought together first-person accounts, interviews and short fiction on the disability experience, was published b
Westland
in 2022. Srilata’s poems have been widely anthologized and featured in collections such as
The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets
' and
The Penguin Book of Indian Poets
'. A

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

pre-doctoral scholar at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

, Srilata has a masters and a PhD in Literature from the University of Hyderabad. Formerly a Professor of Literature at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Srilata took early retirement in order to focus more fully on her writing. She has been a participating writer at th
Jaipur Literary Festival
th
Bangalore Literary Festival
th
Seoul International Writers Festival
th
Sahitya Akademi’s International Literature Festival
the Hindu Lit for Life festival, th
Hyderabad Literary Festival
and th
Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

Career

Her first book of poems, ''Seablue Child'', was published in 2000, followed by
Arriving Shortly
' (2011). Other poetry collections are
Writing Octopus
' (2013),
Bookmarking the Oasis
' (2015) and
The Unmistakable Presence of Absent Humans
' (2019). Srilata also translated from Tamil to English two millennia worth of poetry titled
Rapids of a Great River: The Penguin Book of Tamil Poetry
' - along with Lakshmi Holmstrom and Subashree Krishnaswamy. Her other work includes translations of R. Vatsala's Tamil novels
Once there was a girl (Vattathul)
',
The Scent of Happiness (Kannukkul Satru Payanithu)
', a co-translation along with Shobhana Kumar of the Tamil poet Salma’s work
i, Salma (Red River)
', and a translation of women's writing from the

Self-Respect Movement The Self-Respect Movement is a popular human rights movement originating in South India aimed at achieving social equality for those oppressed by the Indian caste system, advocating for lower castes to develop self-respect. It was founded in ...

The Other Half of the Coconut: Women Writing Self-Respect History
'
Yoda Press
has published an Indo-Irish collaborative poetry anthology
All the Worlds Between
' that Srilata co-edited with Fiona Bolger. Srilata has co-edited
Lifescapes: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers from Tamil Nadu
' (Women Unlimited), along with Swarnalatha Rangarajan. She has won several awards for her poetry. Srilata has been a writer-in-residence at the University of Stirling, a
Sangam House
and at th
Yeonhui Art Space
in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. Srilata co-curates th
CMI Arts Initiative
along with Madhavan Mukund and K.V. Subrahmanyam, apart from hosting a writing residency in partnership with Sangam House. Srilata is also part of the team that run
Yavanika Press
an e-publishing site specializing in poetry. Srilata was previously a professor at IIT Madras where she taught Creative Writing, Fiction, Advanced English and Translation Studies. Srilata is adjunct professor at the Chennai Mathematical Institute.

Bibliography

Poetry Collections

*''Three Women in a Single-Room House''. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi: 2023, *''The Unmistakable Presence of Absent Humans''. Mumbai: Paperwall/Poetrywala, 2019, *''All the Worlds Between: A Collaborative Poetry Project Between India and Ireland''. (Co-edited with Fiona Bolger). New Delhi: Yoda, 2017, *''Bookmarking the Oasis.'' Mumbai: Paperwall/Poetrywala, 2015, *''Writing Octopus.'' New Delhi: Authorspress, 2013, *''Arriving Shortly.'' Kolkata: Writers Workshop, 2011, *''Seablue Child.'' Kolkata: The Brown Critique, 2002

Fiction

*''Table for Four.'' New Delhi: Penguin, 2011,

Non-Fiction

* ''This Kind of Child: The `Disability’ Story''. New Delhi: Westland, 2022, * ''Short Fiction from South India'' (co-edited with Subashree Krishnaswamy).'' ''New Delhi: OUP, 2008, * ''Lifescapes: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers from Tamilnadu'' (co-edited with Swarnalatha Rangarajan). New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2019,

Translations

*''The Rapids of a Great River: The Penguin Book of Tamil Poetry Penguin Book of Tamil Poetry'' (co-edited with Lakshmi Holmstrom and Subashree Krishnaswamy). New Delhi: Penguin India, 2009, *''Once There Was a Girl'' (translation of the Tamil novel ''Vattathul'' by R.Vatsala). Kolkata: Writers Workshop, 2012, *''The Scent of Happiness'' (co-translation with Kaamya Sharma of Kannukkul Satru Payanithu, a Tamil novel by R Vatsala). New Delhi: Ratna Sagar, 2021, *''Salma: Selected Poems'' (co-translation with Shobhana Kumar of the Tamil poet Salma’s work). New Delhi: Red River, 2023,

Academic/Editing

*''The Other Half of the Coconut: Women Writing Self-Respect History.'' New Delhi: Zubaan, 2003, *''Short Fiction from South India'', (co-edited with Subashree Krishnaswamy). New Delhi: OUP, 2008, *''Lifescapes: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers from Tamilnadu'' (co-edited with Swarnalatha Rangarajan). New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2019,

Featured in

* ''The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets''. Northumberland: BloodAxe, 2008, * ''The Harper Collins Book of English Poetry''. New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2012, * ''A Poem a Day (edited by Gulzar).'' New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2020, * ''The Penguin Book of Indian Poets''. New Delhi: Penguin, 2022, * ''The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India'' (ed. Dr Vivekanand Jha). Canada: Hidden Brook Press, 2013, *"For eanne Mukuninwa, "What father left us", and "Gomati",''The Harper Collins Book of English Poetry'' (ed. Sudeep Sen). India, 2013, *''Another Country: An Anthology of Post-Independence Poetry in English'', (ed. Arundhathi Subramaniam). New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2013, *"England, 1999", "A Somewhat Different Question", and "I Wear Wordlessness like a Tattered Dress", ''Caravan'', February 2013 *"Poem Walk", ''Kavya Bharati'', 2011, No. 23 *"Drunken, Gasping Fish-lungs", "Mining", and "Slow Trot", ''Muse India'', Issue 63 *"A Brief History of Writing", and "Gravity", ''Prairie Schooner'' 87, no. 2, 2013 *"Mazhai/Rain", ''Sonic Boom'', Issue 3, 2014

Stories

*"You Expert Woman, You", ''Guftugu,'' May 2017 *"Mynah Hands, Flying Fingers", ''The Punch Magazine,'' April 2017 *"Rainbow Loom Bracelet", ''Out of Print'', September 2015 *"Cousin, Newly Acquired", ''Madras Mag'', October 2014 *"These Things Happen if You Don't Watch it", Volume 28, Issue 3, ''

Wasafiri ''Wasafiri'' is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word "safari ...

'', 2013 *"Game of Asylum Seekers", ''Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana'' (edited by Anil Menon and Vandana Singh), Zubaan, 2012, *"Sarasu", ''the Little Magazine'', Vol. 5, Issue 4, 2004; ''First Impressions: Stories and Plays Shortlisted for the TLM New Writing Award'', 2006 (''the Little Magazine'', New Delhi, 2006), ''Other People: The Sangam House Reader Vol. I'', Sangam House 2011 *"State of Whiteness", ''The Shrinking Woman and Other Stories'', Bangalore: Unisun, 2009, *"How Do I Love Thee?: Let Me Count the Ways", ''The Penguin Book of New Writing From India 2: First Proofs'', New Delhi: Penguin, 2006

References

Sources

Eighth National Poetry Competition 1998 - Award WinnersK Srilata - An Interview

Poems by K Srilata on ''Recours au Poeme''"Terra Nullius" on ''Recours au Poeme''"Dreaming Mostly of Nameless Things" on ''Origami Poems''"Dreaming, Mostly of Nameless Things" on YouTube"Somewhere a Skylight" on ''Origami Poems''K Srilata - Poetry at Sangam House"Boxes have that Effect" at ''Right Hand Pointing''
*
''Taut and Crisp'' on The Hindu Verse ReviewsPenning Verse on The HinduK Srilata - Poemhunter.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Srilata, K 1968 births Living people Indian women poets Writers from Chennai Indian women short story writers 21st-century Indian translators 20th-century Indian translators 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers English-language poets from India 20th-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian poets 21st-century Indian short story writers People from Ranchi Women writers from Uttarakhand All India Poetry Prize