WEAVING FIRE: Translated from the Tamil original by Sumi Kailasapathy

Category Literature & Fiction
Format Hardback
Imprint Rupa
Price 595

ISBN: 978-93-5520-888-0
Pages: 208 pages
Date: 5th December 2022

ABOUT THIS BOOK

This translation of M.V. Venkatram’s Tamil classic novel, Velvi Thee, is based on the lives of a
little-known Saurashtrian silk weavers’ community in Tamil Nadu.
A highly skilled and hard-working weaver, Kannan’s life has always been a battle of exploitation and survival—first by his own family members and later by unscrupulous middlemen who made sure the weavers remained impoverished. The story begins with rains lashing and ruining the weavers’ village, including Kannan and his wife Kausalai’s home and looms. Kannan’s economic ruin provides his long-time employee and confidante the opportunity to backstab him. During this turmoil, Hema, a young widow, enters Kannan’s life. She is determined to have a relationship with Kannan, even if it means sharing him with her friend Kausalai and giving Kannan money to bail him out of his dire financial situation. A pregnant Kausalai is furious and distraught when she finds the truth about Hema’s intentions.

While Kannan is in the middle of negotiations to find a solution to the weavers’ union strike, he
returns home late one night and realizes his wife and daughter are missing!

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

M.V. Venkatram (1920–2000) is a Sahitya Akademi award-winning Tamil author. He was born in
Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu. A prolific writer, Venkatram has authored over
two hundred literary works, including novels, novellas, short plays, poetry and essays, which were published in illustrious newspapers and literary magazines.
In 1948, he established Thenee, a literary magazine. Prominent Tamil writers contributed to this
publication. He was also the honorary editor for the Tamil literary magazine Paalam, where his
novel Ears was serialized. In addition to writing, he also undertook many translations from English and Hindi. He translated biographies of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhagat Singh and Indira Gandhi.
Sumi Kailasapathy migrated from Sri Lanka to the USA in the early 1990s. She received her
bachelor’s degree in Economic and Political Science from Wellesley College, Massachusetts and her graduate degrees in Political Science from the New School for Social Research, New York. She lives with her family in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and enjoys reading, playing the veena and working on political campaigns.