Just One Word

Bama is a Dalit writer. Fighting impossible odds she went through school and college and trained as a teacher who imparts values aimed at building self-esteem, and social consciousness. Besides 'Karukku' (1992), her first novel, she has written 'Sangati' (1994), 'Kisumbukkaran' (1996), 'Vanmam' (2002), 'Oru Thathavum Erumayum' (2004), 'Kondattam' (2009), and 'Manushi' (2011) in Tamil. Both novels and through her several short stories and articles she hopes to focus
on themes related to caste domination and social discrimination. Her works have been translated into English, French, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.


Malini Seshadri is a freelance writer, editor, and translator based in Chennai. She has more than three decades of experience writing newspaper columns and magazine articles on a wide variety of themes. Recently she has co-authored a series of value education books for schools titled 'Living in Harmony', published by OUP. She has translated Bama's Tamil novel 'Vanmam: Vendetta' (OUP 2008). She has written a work of fiction for children and co-edited a textbook for an undergraduate programme.