Devakanthan
Contemporary Sri Lankan Tamil Literature:
Poetics, Publishing, and Critical Practice
Sunday, May 14, 2006 | 13:00 - 15:00 EST
Devakanthan joined the editorial staff of Eelanadu, a national Tamil
daily, in 1968. He left Sri Lanka in 1984 and has stayed in India as a refugee
since 2002. Though he started his creative writings while he was in Sri Lanka,
his first book was published in 1986 in India, Tamil Nadu. He has written twelve
books to date including: the novels Vidhi and Nilach Chamuthiram,
the short story collection Neruppu. His mostly critically acclaimed work
is Kanavuch Chirai, a five volume novel. While he was in India he
published a literary little magazine named Ilakku for three years. At
present he has been living in Canada. He says writing is not his hobby, but a
need, a symbol for his existence .