Meena Kandasamy

Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy (born 1984) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Quotes

Love is not blind, it just looks in the wrong places.
Shame is not in the beatings, not in the rape. Shame is in being asked to stand judgment.
- Meena Kandasamy Famous Quotes.

A memoir for me means a person’s life story; if I was going to write my actual life story, I would condense this entire marriage into a footnote.
- On her book When I Hit You in “Meena Kandasamy: ‘If I was going to write my life story, I would condense that marriage to a footnote’” in The Guardian (2019 Nov 25)

Who does the novel belong to? I am writing about a different reality, so I need to shape it to fit my reality. You don’t want to do the same. You don’t want to do the done thing. To take a risk, you still need to be absolutely on the margins. I am doing what I want to do.
- On how she defines herself as a writer in “Meena Kandasamy: ‘If I was going to write my life story, I would condense that marriage to a footnote’” in The Guardian (2019 Nov 25)

I have been in an abusive marriage. Violence can come from love, from a very intimate person. Violence can come from all sorts of crazy situations. What are you going to do? You have to deal with it when it strikes.
- On facing abuse head on in “Meena Kandasamy interview: ‘I don’t know if I’m idiotic – or courageous’” in the Independent (2014 Apr 6)

Sometimes I think that what I do must be either idiotic and naïve or courageous. I don’t know which. If there was no threat of violence, that is what you would do. This threat of violence shouldn’t dictate what you are going to write or hinder you in any manner.
- On the threat of violence in “Meena Kandasamy interview: ‘I don’t know if I’m idiotic – or courageous’” in the Independent (2014 Apr 6)

The literary world must take a stand [to stop Bloomsbury publishing the book]. This is not about cancel culture. This is about defending literature from fascism. This is about standing up against religious divide, hate speech, islamophobia and false history.
- About the controversy over the publication of the book Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story. As quoted in "Bloomsbury India pulls Delhi riots book after anti-Muslim controversy", The Guardian, 24 Aug 2020.

Encyclopedic article on Meena Kandasamy on Wikipedia