Shobasakthi (Tr. Anushiya Ramaswamy)

Shobasakthi lives in France. He is a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee and a former LTTE child-soldier. He has published two novels, a collection of short stories, three plays and many essays. His first novel, translated in English as Gorilla, was published to immense acclaim. For the last twenty years, he has worked as a dishwasher, cook, supermarket shelver, room boy, construction worker and street sweeper, among other things. He blogs at www.satiyakadatasi.com.

Anushiya Ramaswamy is a professor of English at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. She completed her MA from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and PhD from University of Nevada, Reno. She specializes in the translation of Dalit writing and has translated the poetry of the Tamil Dalit poet, N.D. Rajkumar. She has also translated Shobasakthi’s novels, Gorilla and Traitor.