Popular Profiles - 03.Lakshmi Thiripurasundari

The real name of profilic Tamil writer Lakshmi is S. Thiripurasundari.

Personal Life:

Thiripurasundari was born in Thottiyam in Ammapettai near Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu in 21 March 1921. Her parents were Dr. Srinivasan and Pattammal (Sivakami). She was schooled at Thottiyam, Musiri and Holy Cross School, Trichy. She studied in Stanley Medical College and became a medical doctor.

After completing her medical education, she practiced at Chennai. She married Kannabiran in 1955 and moved to South Africa, where she lived for the next twenty two years. Her husband died in 1966. She returned to India in 1977 and took up full time writing. She died in 1987.

Her Books:

Lakshmi has penned hundreds of short stories and novels. Most of her works were based on family issues.

Lakshmi first started writing stories to earn money for paying college fees. She started with short stories in popular magazines like Ananda Vikatan. She used "Lakshmi" as her pseudonym. Her first short story to be published was Thagunda thandanaya?. Her first novel to be published was Bhavani.

Some of her popular books include, Adutha veedu, Avalukkendru oru idam, Irandavathu thenilavu, Kanchanaiyin Kanavu, Oru kaveriyai pola, Gangaiyum vandhaal, Pen manam, Srimathi Mythili and Mangalaavin Kanavan.

Awards and Recognitions:

Her novels Penn manam and Mithila Vilas were awarded the Tamil Valarchi Kazhagam price.

In 1984, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for her novel Oru Kaveriyai pola.

Her Kanchanaiyin Kanavu and Penn Manam were made into Tamil films - Kanchana(1952) and Iruvar Ullam (1963)

In 2009, the Government of Tamil Nadu offered to nationalise her works but her legal heirs refused the offer.

References - wikipedia.org