Speaker

MeenaKandasamy is an anti-caste activist, poet, novelist and translator. H er writing aims to deconstruct trauma and violence, while spotlighting the militant resistance against caste, gender, and ethnic oppressions She explores this in her poetry and prose, most notably in her books of poems such asTouch(20 0 6) andM s M ilitancy(20 10 ), as well as her three novels,The Gypsy Goddess(20 14),W hen I H it You(20 17), andExquisite Cadavers(20 19). H er latest work is a collection of essays,The O rders W ere to Rape You: Tamil Tigresses in the Eelam Struggle(20 21). H er novels have been shortlisted for the W omen?s Prize for Fiction, the International D ylan Thomas Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the H indu Lit Prize

She has been a fellow of the U niversity of Iowa'sInternational W riting Program(20 0 9), aCharles W allace India Trust Fellowat the U niversity of Kent (20 11) and a fellow of the Berlin-based Junge A kademie (A dK). In 20 22, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL), U nited Kingdom

A ctivism is at the heart of her literary work; she has translated several political texts from Tamil to English, and previously held an editorial role atThe D alit, an alternative magazine She holds a PhD in sociolinguistics H er op-eds and essays have appeared inThe W hite Review, Guernica, The