The very name, Ku. Azhagirisamy, kindles a nostalgia of their adolescent years in the Tamil public owing to the short story ‘Raja Vandhirukirar’’ they had in their school curriculum. Veteran writer, translator, poet, playwright and journalist Ku. Azhagirisamy had a great writing career during his short lifespan. 2023 being his centenary year, it was celebrated in a grand manner by Sahitya Akademi by conducting a national- level conference in collaboration with Sri S. Ramasamy Naidu Memorial College, Sattur. Azhagirisamy being a ‘karisal’ writer, the Department of Tamil made it a point to celebrate the writer at the college located in his very ‘karisal’ landscape. Students of Tamil and English literature attended the conference which had scholarly discourses.
Renowned writers and erudite scholars presented their papers on the writings of Ku. Azhagiriswamy from psychological, cultural and feministic perspectives of his letters, short stories, poems, journalistic works, essays, plays and translations. S. Ganeshram, Principal; M. Rajendran, former Vice Chancellor of Tamil University; A. Saarangarajan, son of Ku. Azhagirisamy; R. Thamotharan, Convener of Sahitya Akademi Tamil Advisory Board; Cho. Dharman, Sahitya Akademi award winner; writers S. Tamizh Selvan, Bharathibalan and Lakshmi Kanthan shared their observations of Ku. Azhagirisamy’s works and applauded his contribution to Tamil literary tradition.
S. Jegatheesan, secretary, and P. Sridevi, HoD, Tamil, joined hands with T.S. Chandrashekhara Raju, Officer in Charge of Sahitya Akademi, Chennai in celebrating the veteran ‘karisal’ writer. To commemorate the centenary year, a short story writing competition was conducted for students and the winners received prizes at the valedictory session of the conference.
