Seasons of the Palm
by Perumal Murugan
(translated by V. Geetha)

Tara Books, India
ISBN: 8186211829
Tara Books are distributed by Consortium in the US and by Turnaround Books in the UK

Murugan's third novel focuses on the arduous lives of a group of lovingly drawn child characters with colorful names like "Shortie," "Tallfellow," "Matchbox," and "Stumpleg." Born into the "untouchable" class in Southern India, the children work as goat herders and face not only the universal difficulties of adolescence but at the same time heartbreaking hunger and dispossession.

Perumal Murugan

Murugan is a well known contemporary Tamil writer whose strong work has won great praise from critics and readers. His writing focuses on life lived in the margins of society, both rural and urban, he experiments a great deal with prose styles. The experience of 'untouchability' is a strong thematic concern with him. A lecturer in Tamil Literature at a state run college in western Tamil Nadu [in Southern India], he is interested in young people, especially the dynamics of young male friendships. Perumal Murugan has written three novels, several short stories and poems, and edited a dialect dictionary, which won the State Award for excellence. Several of his short stories have been translated into English and have won critical acclaim. He recently won a prestigious national fiction award. Tara Publishing will bring out the first English translations of his novels.

V. Geetha, the translator, is an editor with Tara Publishing. She writes in English and Tamil and translates into and from both languages. Her concerns include Tamil history and culture, caste and gender. She is actively involved in the women's movement in India. Her published works in English include Towards a Non-brahmin Millenium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar, Samya, 1998 (This is an account of anti-caste radicalism in Tamil Nadu); and Soul Force: Gandhi's Writings on Peace, Tara Publishing, 2004. (This is an edition, with notes and comments, of Mahatma Gandhi's writings on peace).

(Information about the author and author photo from www.tarabooks.com.)