Ki Rajanarayanan (1922–2021) was born in Idaiseval, a village near Kovilpatti in southern Tamil Nadu. This region, known as Karisal or the “black soil” belt, provides the distinctive language, rhythm, and atmosphere that animate his work. Widely regarded as the doyen of Karisal literature, Ki Ra received the Sahitya Akademi Award for this novel in 1991.

His first short story was published in 1958, and he went on to write numerous short stories, three novels, and several essays. He also compiled a dictionary of the dialect of the Black Soil region (Karisal Vattaara Vazhakku Sol Agaradhi). Remarkably, Ki Ra’s literary achievements came despite leaving school after the seventh grade. In 1989, he moved to Puducherry, where he was appointed Honorary Professor of Folklore in the Tamil Department at Pondicherry Central University.

Shubashree Desikan is a writer and translator based in Chennai. She has translated Mul (Thorn) by Muthumeenal from Tamil to English and several children’s books for Tulika Publishers into Tamil. Her poems have appeared in Muse India.

A science journalist with IIT Madras Shaastra Magazine, Shubashree previously spent a decade at The Hindu. She holds a PhD in Physics from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, and received the National Award for Science Communication in Print in 2017 from the Government of India.