author, poet, teacher, and performer
It was a wonderful pleasure to be the Singapore Book Council‘s first translator-in-residence this year.
Here are a few pictures from my week-long stay, full of readings and classes and talks and events of all kinds. Click on the images to see them at full size.
It was an enormous honor and delight to get to speak at the 11th World Tamil Conference in Kuala Kumpur, Malaysia, in July 2023.
Here are a few pictures! Click on the images to see them at full size.
I was amazed and humbled by how people have responded to several interviews that I gave during the conference. For those who know Tamil, here are a few videos along with their links.
https://www.facebook.com/KumudamOnline/videos/236726692652073/
https://www.facebook.com/SunNewsTamil/videos/817811433384949/
https://www.facebook.com/vanakkammalaysiadotcom/videos/1538386003597837/
I’m hoping to upload a few of these videos to my YouTube channel and add English subtitles. Once I do, you’ll be able to find them on this page as well.
I was honored and delighted to speak in Toronto for the annual awards ceremony of the Tamil Literary Garden. Paavannan and L. Murugapoopathy received lifetime achievement awards, and we also celebrated the work of Velmurugan Elango, Samraj, Sukirtharani, Sivasankari, and V. N. Giritharan.
Here are a few pictures! Click on the images to see them at full size.
I’m deeply honored to be participating in the 11th World Tamil Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 21-23, 2023, in which I’ll be speaking about my English translation of the Kural: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.
Watch on YouTube and turn on the captions for an English translation of this greeting in Tamil.
I invite you to learn more about my translation of the Kural as well as my translation of Avvaiyar, issued in a second edition in 2022 by Red Hen Press.
I was delighted to write about verse 108 from the Kural in the wonderful online magazine The Porch: A Slow Conversation about Beautiful and Difficult Things.
You can read the essay here:
You can also listen to verse 108 here:
From chapter 11, “Gratitude.”
Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston
For Teacher Appreciation Week, I was honored to write about my Tamil teacher, the late Dr. K. V. Ramakoti, in the award-winning blog of Beacon Press, Beacon Broadside.
Without Dr. Ramakoti, I would never have dared to translate the Kural, let alone to teach about it and introduce it to English-speaking readers and leaders.
You can read the essay on the Beacon Broadside website: https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2023/05/life-and-learning-in-harmony-a-tribute-to-dr-k-v-ramakoti.html
I was delighted to speak about the beauty in and of the Kural for the first anniversary of the National Library Board’s Tamil Cholai in Singapore.
Here are a few pictures! Click on the images to see them at full size.
I was delighted to get to visit the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre and speak with students about the Kural during my recent stay in Singapore for the 2023 Tamil Language Festival.
Here are a few pictures! Click on the images to see them at full size.
