Sowmya Rajendran is an Indian writer. She is the winner of

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

's 2015 Bal Sahitya Puraskar and has written over 20 books. She has written young adult fiction, picture books and inspirational books for children.

Career

Rajendran's writing challenges, among other diverse issues, the stereotypical notions of beauty. Her book, ''The Pleasant Rakshasha'', recounts the tale of Karimuga, a demon who is both pleasant and beautiful. ''The Boy Who Asked Why'' depicts the story of a young

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

while ''Wings to Fly'' depicts para-athlete Malathi Holla. ''The Lesson'', released on

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday list of minor secular observances#March, celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights, women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, ...

2015, began as a blogpost and sarcastically discusses gender-based violence, discrimination and the

institution of marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

. ''The Weightlifting Princess'' (2019) depicts a princess who is passionate about weightlifting. ''Suddenly Cow'' is a funny story about a cow that appears suddenly. ''Mayil Will Not Be Quiet'' has its 12-year-old protagonist, Mayil Ganesan, explore some issues like gender stereotyping and is written in the diary format. This book went on to win her the 2015 Bal Sahitya Puraskar awarded by the Sahitya Akademi. The book was published in 2011 and was written in collaboration with Niveditha Subramaniam. The book has two sequels, ''Mostly Madly Mayil'' (2013) and ''This is Me, Mayil'' (2019). Mayil, the protagonist of the series, lives in Chennai and opines about the events that happen around her, including gender discrimination, domestic violence, identity politics, sexual harassment and caste conflict. ''Girls to the Rescue'' is an alternate retelling of conventional fairy tales. In this version of ''

The Frog Prince "The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (german: Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich, literally "The Frog King or the Iron Henry") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 1) ...

'', the princess chooses to not marry the frog chosen as her spouse by her family. This story was chosen for the

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private board designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance w ...

Class VI textbook. Further, this book's version of ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'' has the largest feet in the kingdom and does not immediately agree to prince's marriage proposal and instead invites him for dinner. Rajendran's first book was ''The Underwater Friends'', which was later published as a series of picture books. It was written while she was still pursuing her master's degree in Gender Studies.

Personal life

Rajendran is based in

Pashan Pashan is suburb of Pune, India. It is located off the Mumbai-Bangalore national highway, by-passing Pune city. Pashan road serves as the main approach road for Mumbai-Pune expressway. Pashan is bordered by Baner in north, Sus on west, Bavd ...

Pune District Pune district (Marathi pronunciation: uɳeː is the most populous district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The district's population was 9,429,408 in the 2011 census, making it the fourth most populous district amongst India's 640 distric ...

. She has a masters in

Gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She has a daughter, born in 2011, named Adhira. As a child, Rajendran enjoyed reading

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have be ...

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

, RK Narayan,

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

and children's magazines like ''

Tinkle ''Tinkle'' is an Indian fortnightly magazine for children in English, published from Mumbai. Originally owned by the India Book House, the Tinkle brand was acquired by ACK (Amar Chitra Katha) Media in 2007. The magazine contains comics, stor ...

'', ''

Chandamama ''Chandamama'' was a classic Indian monthly magazine for children, famous for its illustrations. It also published long-running mythological/magical stories that ran for years. Originally, "Chandamama" was started in Telugu by Chakrapani and N ...

'', ''Gokulam'' and ''

Champak Champak is a popular fortnightly magazine for children published by the Delhi Press Group since 1969 in India. ''Champak'' competes with Amar Chitra Katha's ''Tinkle'' and Geodesic's ''Chandamama'' brands of magazines. ''Champak'' is published ...

''.

Works

* ''The Underwater Friends'' * ''The Pleasant Rakshasha'' * ''The Boy Who Asked Why'' * ''Wings to Fly'' * ''Girls to the Rescue'' * ''Suddenly Cow'' * ''Mayil Will Not Be Quiet'' (2011) * ''Mostly Madly Mayil'' (2013) * ''This is Me, Mayil'' (2019) * ''The Lesson'' (2015) * ''The Weightlifting Princess'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajendran, Sowmya English-language writers from India Indian writers 21st-century Indian novelists Year of birth missing (living people) Indian women novelists 21st-century Indian women writers Writers from Pune 1980s births Living people