Meena Kandasamy is a 22-year-old writer, poet and translator based in Chennai, India. Two of her poems Mascara and My Lover Speaks of Rape have won first prizes in pan-Indian poetry contests. Her poems have been published widely in India and abroad through journals like The Little Magazine, Cerebration, Indian Horizons, Sweet Magazine, Muse India, Great Works, Slow Trains and the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore.
She was the Editor of The Dalit, a bimonthly alternative English magazine of the Dalit Media Network in its first year of publication from 2001-2002. It was a noteworthy media initiative that provided a platform to record atrocities, condemn oppressive hierarchies and document the forgotten heritage.
As a woman writer who dreams of a casteless India, she has contributed quite a few book chapters and research articles in various journals such as Biblio, Communalism Combat and so on.
She has translated more than a dozen books that run into over 1,500 pages. Significant among her translations are the writings and speeches of Thol. Thirumaavalavan (Talisman: Extreme Emotions of Dalit Liberation (2003) and Uproot Hindutva: The Fiery Voice of the Liberation Panthers (2004), Samya, Kolkota) and the poetry and fables of Tamil Eelam poet Kasi Anandan.
Having translated Periyar’s views on untouchability, she is currently neck-deep in translating his thoughts on women's rights. She has majored in Linguistics and English Literature and plans to pursue her Ph.D. specialising in language teaching, technical translation or some other deeply boring, easilyforgotten topic.
Email: meena84@gmail.com.