Wilting Laughter: Three Tamil Poets

by R. Cheran, Chelva Kanaganayakam (Translator), V.I.S. Jayapalan

Poetry. South Asian Studies. Translated and Edited by Chelva Kanaganayakam. This collection brings together seventy-five poems by three internationally known Tamil poets--R Cheran, V.I.S. Jayapalan, and Puthuvai Ratnathurai--whose works, over the last three decades, have dealt with issues ranging from ethnicity and nationalism, to religion and diaspora. Together they have shaped the Tamil literary tradition, urging the reader to look at the past and present in new and important ways. All three poets have confronted the reality of Sri Lankan violence, displacement, and struggle in different ways, but reading them together reveals both connections and differences.

Genres: Poetry

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Cheran Rudhramoorthy [Tamil : சேரன் உருத்திரமூர்த்தி] (b. 1960, Alaveddy [alaveddi], Sri Lanka ) is a Tamil poet, playwright, journalist and professor. He is the author of more than 15 books in Tamil, and of three plays in English. He also co-edited an anthology of Tamil political poetry. In his works, he deals with the themes of identity, ethnicity, nationalism , emigration and violence.

Cheran has received several awards for literature and human rights , including the English PEN, Freedom to Write Award (2013), the University of Toronto International Poetry Award (2007), the Human Rights Witness Award, Montreal , 1998 ), and the Sri Lankan National Prize for Best Poetry (1994).

His works have been translated into 16 languages ​​including English , Arabic , Bengali , Chinese , French , German , Spanish , Indonesian , Japanese, Kannada , Malayalam , Dutch , Sinhala , Swedish, and Telugu .