Writing makes life so much more interesting!
Sujatha Balasubramanian
The author Sujatha Balasubramanian (1932-1984) was a prolific writer between 1955 right up to her early demise in 1984. She started writing at the age of nineteen. Her work ranges from tales of simple village folk to highly contemporary scenes.
Her writings appeared regularly in Femina, a popular weekly magazine in India. Her popular articles include “Adventures of Aunt Ammu”, everyone’s favorite aunt who appears on the scene to assist in everyday problems. Illustrated Weekly of India regular carried her work, including “The Purple Jacaranda” and “The Tiger of Palipuram”, a couple of her most popular stories! Her work has appeared in many journals in India and English periodicals, including ARGOSY. She won the Roscoe award twice, for the best Short Story in the UK and Commonwealth!
She traveled widely, and spoke frequently to women’s organizations to talk about women of India. “Since the Queen’s tour of India, earlier this year, there has been a great revival of interest about this country in Britain,” she says. During an 11-month stay in England, she addressed over a dozen women’s institutes and clubs and found that in the West there was a respect for the ancient culture and traditions of India. At one meeting where she was scheduled to talk for forty minutes, the members questions from Bhakra-Nangal to “sati” kept her on for over two hours. Visiting the writers’ Summer school at Swanick was one of her most fascinating experiences while she was abroad. The Summer school is held for a week in August every year and about four hundred writers from all over Britain meet to discuss various aspects of journalism and writing.
The rendering of her work in this blog is to relive those wonderful writings and make it accessible to more people all around the world. It is a labour of love by her daughters, Uma and Meenakshi, and her grand daughters, Tanushree and Avantika, who hope to carry the torch of their mother’s passion project.
Awards & testimonials
Awarded “Best English Short story writer”
Short Story Writers Guild of UK
Sujatha’s sensational piece You can never tell, was indeed, telling in the extreme! She deserves a double salute for her highly humane imagination and apparently very resourceful pen.
Letters to the Editor, 1967
A poem by Sujatha Balasubramanian has been included in an Anthology of Indian poetry by the University of Washington
The Writers Workshop, Calcutta
Stories by Sujatha 