Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

author, poet, teacher, and performer

Interviews

To find interviews on specific books, use the buttons below:

The Kural The Safety of Edges

Body and Earth

A Joyful Book

Following the 2025 Chennai International Book Fair, The Times of India, which I was surprised to learn is the largest-selling English language newspaper in the world, invited me in for an interview.

I expected to speak with one or two reporters and answer the usual sorts of questions I tend to get asked. Instead, I had the honor of speaking to representatives from every division of the paper and answering some of the most thoughtful questions I’ve been asked to date.

You can read the article that appeared in the print edition here:

All of this was followed by an extended bilingual video interview, which I’m delighted to share here. They’ve added English subtitles for the Tamil sections of the interview:

My gratitude to the entire staff of the Times of India Chennai office for their hospitality, preparation, and insightful questions.

A Heart That Smiles: A Kural Conversation with Gustavo Esteva

Friendship, Politics, and the Inspiration of Poetry

With my friend Gustavo Esteva I explore the nature of real friendship, its relationship to politics in a time of upheaval, and the necessity of poetry as reflected in chapter 79, “Friendship,” of THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

  • “Friendship is not a face smiling” and the inner smile of real friendship, even in the face of anger or depression: 4:36
  • Friendship as beyond expectations: 14:19
  • The place of friendship in the life of Ivan Illich and in politics: 18:17
  • A question from Gustavo about the meanings of verse 782, “Friendship with wise souls—a moon waxing—fellowship / With fools—a moon waning”: 37:00
  • The great need for the inspiration of poetry in the great desperation of present circumstances: 44:18
  • Where Gustavo’s many writings are being collected and organized to be shared with anyone who wish to read them: 51:00

Gustavo Esteva

Photo Credit: redefineschool.com

Gustavo Esteva
August 20, 1936 – March 17, 2022
Rest in joyful conviviality, queridísimo Gustavo.

Gustavo Esteva can be described as a “deprofessionalized intellectual,” a nomadic storyteller, and the founder of the Universidad de la Tierra (University of the Soil) in the city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. He is also a columnist for La Jornada and The Guardian. Esteva has been actively engaged in initiatives for reclaiming the commons with indigenous peoples, peasants, and those marginalized in urban life.

Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

786
Friendship is not a face smiling—friendship
Is a heart that smiles

முகநக நட்பது நட்பன்று நெஞ்சத்
தகநக நட்பது நட்பு

789
What is the throne of friendship—unwavering
Support in all ways

நட்பிற்கு வீற்றிருக்கை யாதெனின் கொட்பின்றி
ஒல்லும்வாய் ஊன்றும் நிலை

872
Friendship with wise souls—a moon waxing—fellowship
With fools—a moon waning

நிறைநீர நீரவர் கேண்மை பிறைமதிப்
பின்னீர பேதையார் நட்பு

From chapter 79, “Friendship.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

In Service of the Unseen: A Kural Conversation with Michael Meade

Singing One’s Own Song in the World

With storyteller, author, and scholar of mythology Michael Meade, I was delighted to speak about being known well, dying before you die, and the presence of the divine as reflected in THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

  • Being well known versus being known well 3:58
  • Bringing the gift of one’s soul into the world 7:04
  • The earth as the source of generosity and blessing 8:45
  • Funeral as a central community ritual 13:00
  • Glory as a person’s song in the world 19:56

Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, and scholar of mythology, anthropology, and psychology. He combines hypnotic storytelling, street-savvy perceptiveness, and spellbinding interpretations of ancient myths with a deep knowledge of cross-cultural rituals. He has an unusual ability to distill and synthesize these disciplines, tapping into ancestral sources of wisdom and connecting them to the stories we are living today.

He is the author of “Awakening the Soul,” “The Genius Myth,” “Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of The Soul,” “Why the World Doesn’t End,” “The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul;” editor, with James Hillman and Robert Bly, of “Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart”; and the creator of the Living Myth Podcast.

https://www.mosaicvoices.org/

Here are the key verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

236
If you appear appear with renown—better not to appear
Than to appear without it

தோன்றிற் புகழொடு தோன்றுக அஃதிலார்
தோன்றலின் தோன்றாமை நன்று

239
Even the blameless abundance of earth dwindles
Beneath bodies without name

வசையிலா வண்பயன் குன்றும் இசையிலா
யாக்கை பொறுத்த நிலம்

235
Gain in loss—life in death—the discerning alone
Attain them

நத்தம்போற் கேடும் உளதாகும் சாக்காடும்
வித்தகர்க் கல்லால் அரிது

231
Give freely and gain glory—nothing else
Gains a life more

ஈதல் இசைபட வாழ்தல் அதுவல்ல
தூதியம் இல்லை உயிர்க்கு

From chapter 24, “Renown.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

Sweeter Than Ambrosia: A Kural Conversation with Ian Boyden

Learning to Mirror Delight

With artist, translator, and writer Ian Boyden, I was delighted to speak about children, the birthplace of empathy, and the joys of sulking and reunion as reflected in THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

  • Material, ambrosia, and delight 4:50
  • Mirror neurons and the birthplace of empathy 14:18
  • Our capacity to listen and the Bodhisattva of Compassion 27:43
  • Waiting like a crane 35:48
  • Sulking and bliss 55:40

Ian Boyden is a visual artist, translator, and writer. Consistent across his productions are an intense interest in material relevance, place-based thought, and ecology, with a deep awareness of East Asian aesthetics. His work is interdisciplinary, and collaborations have involved a variety of scientists, poets, composers, and other visual artists. He has worked with two Chinese dissident writers and artists, Tsering Woeser and Ai Weiwei. In 2016, Boyden curated the exhibition Ai Weiwei: Fault Line, which led to his most recent book “A Forest of Names.” Boyden was awarded a 2019 NEA Literature Translation Fellowship to translate a manuscript of Woeser’s poetry.

Here are the key verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

64
Sweeter than ambrosia by far—the food the tiny hands
Of one’s children have scattered

அமிழ்தினும் ஆற்ற இனிதேதம் மக்கள்
சிறுகை அளாவிய கூழ்

66
Those who don’t hear the babble of their children
Call the flute and the lyre sweet

குழலினி தியாழினி தென்பதம் மக்கள்
மழலைச்சொற் கேளா தவர்

490
Wait like the crane that waits—and strike like the crane
When right

கொக்கொக்க கூம்பும் பருவத்து மற்றதன்
குத்தொக்க சீர்த்த இடத்து

1330
Sulking in love is joy—and joining
Again—joy of joys

ஊடுதல் காமத்திற் கின்பம் அதற்கின்பம்
கூடி முயங்கப் பெறின்

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston