Lakshmi Holmström

{{Short description|Indian-British writer and translator (1935–/2016)}}

{{infobox writer

| name = Lakshmi Holmström

| honorific_suffix = MBE

| image = Lakshmi Holmström 2013 Jaipur Literature Festival.png

| imagesize =

| alt =

| caption = Holmström at 2013 Jaipur Literature Festival

| pseudonym =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1935|6|1}}

| birth_place = Salem, Madras Presidency, British India
(now in Tamil Nadu, India)

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2016|5|6|1935|6|1}}

| death_place = Norwich, England,
United Kingdom

| occupation = Author, translator in English

| nationality =

| ethnicity =

| citizenship =

| education =

| alma_mater = University of Oxford
University of Madras

| period = 1973–2016

| genre = Tamil – English translation

| subject = Women, classical and contemporary literature

| movement =

| notableworks = Sangati (trans.)
Karukku (trans.)
In a Forest, A Deer

| spouse =

| partner =

| children =

| relatives =

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards =

| signature =

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}}

Lakshmi Holmström MBE (1 June 1935 – 6 May 2016Amanda Hopkinson, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/18/lakshmi-holmstrom-obituary "Lakshmi Holmström obituary"], The Guardian, 18 May 2016.{{cite web|url=http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/Our-lady-of-Tamil-literature/articleshow/52169703.cms|title=Our lady of Tamil literature|work=Mumbai Mirror|accessdate=8 May 2016}}) 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

Born in Salem, Taamil Nadu, in 1935, to Paul David Devanandan and Hannah (nee Amaruvati) as the second daughter, Lakshmi lost her mother, when she was barely two years old. Her father re-married. Lakshmi received 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

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.{{cite web|title=A Number of Great Indian Writers Are Not Known in the Rest of the World|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211410|work=Outlook Magazine|author=Manoj Nair| date =23 April 2001| accessdate =5 January 2010}}{{cite news

|url = http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowshipscheme/profile.cfm?fellow=30&menu=2

|title = Current Fellows – Lakshmi Holmström

|work = The Royal Literary Fund

|accessdate = 5 January 2010

|url-status = dead

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110716143849/http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowshipscheme/profile.cfm?fellow=30&menu=2

|archivedate = 16 July 2011

|df = dmy-all

}}{{cite news

|url = http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LiteratureEnglish/WorldLiterature/Asia/?view=usa&ci=9780195698435

|title = Sangati Events

|work = Oxford University Press

|accessdate = 5 January 2010

|url-status = dead

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604161159/http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LiteratureEnglish/WorldLiterature/Asia/?view=usa&ci=9780195698435

|archivedate = 4 June 2011

|df = dmy-all

}}{{cite news

|url = http://www.crosswordbookstores.com/Html/cwba-winners%202004.htm

|title = The Hutch Crossword Book Award 2006 for Indian Language Fiction Translation

|work = Crossword Bookstores

|accessdate = 5 January 2010

|url-status = dead

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100131204559/http://www.crosswordbookstores.com/Html/cwba-winners%202004.htm

|archivedate = 31 January 2010

|df = dmy-all

}}{{cite web|title=On Back Stage|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?250309|work=Outlook Magazine|author=Malashri Lal|author-link=Malashri Lal| date =29 June 2009| accessdate =5 January 2010}}{{cite news

| url =http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tamil-poems-find-an-English-audience/articleshow/4920825.cms

| title = Tamil poems find an English audience

| work = The Times of India

| publisher = The Times Group

| date =22 August 2009

| accessdate =5 January 2010

}}

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.{{London Gazette |issue=59647 |date=31 December 2010 |page=17 |supp=y }}

Death

She died of cancer on 6 May 2016 in Norwich, aged 80.

Bibliography

class="wikitable"

!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

rowspan="2" |2001

|Beasts of Burden

(Original author: Imayam )

|Novel

|Translator

| rowspan="2" |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

rowspan="2" |2003

|Pudumaippittan: Fictions

|Anthology

| rowspan="2" |Translator

| rowspan="4" |Katha, Chennai

That's It But

(Original author: Sundara Ramaswamy)

|Short fiction

rowspan="2" |2004

|Mauni: A Writers' Writer

|Criticism

|Author

Waterness

(Original author: Na Muthuswamy - Neermai )

|Short story anthology

| rowspan="5" |Translator

rowspan="2" |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

rowspan="2" |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

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{{cite web |url=http://kitaab.org/2015/04/29/india-raymond-crossword-book-award-2014-winners-announced/ |title=India: Raymond Crossword Book Award 2014 winners announced |publisher=kitaab.org |author=Zafar Anjum |date=29 April 2015 |accessdate=29 April 2015}}
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