P. Vimala who won Sahitya Akademi award for Tamil translation of Ente Anungal, a Malayalam novel.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

P. Vimala, 36, a Tamil professor at St. Xavier’s College in Tirunelveli has bagged the Sahitya Akademi Award for translation, recognised for the Tamil version of the Malayalam book Ente Anungal (Autobiography) written by Nalini Jameela.

A native of Kulasekaram in Kanniyakumari district, Ms. Vimala completed her schooling in two different government schools before pursuing distance education at Annamalai University. It was while doing her M.Phil and Ph.D at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi that she discovered her passion for translation.

“I had to take two language papers at JNU, so I chose Malayalam. That’s when I started exploring Malayalam literature and got fascinated,” she told The Hindu.

With nearly six years of teaching experience, Vimala has always stayed connected to her passion for translation. Her first work was translating the Malayalam novel Vivekanandam by S. Sujathan into Tamil. But it was her second work Enatu Aankal, published by Kalaichuvadu publications in Nagercoil, that brought her widespread recognition.

Nalini Jameela’s Ente Anungal, stirred controversy in Kerala when it was first released. It offers an unfiltered perspective on a sex worker’s experience, challenging societal norms.

“I was drawn to the book’s raw honesty and how it explores the different perspectives of sex workers’ life and relationships with men,” she shared.

Currently Vimala is working on multiple translation projects including Malayala Mozhi Tholkappiyathil from Malayalam to Tamil and Kurunthogai and Yudha Kandam from Kamba Ramayanam from Tamil to Malayalam.

“I have never worked for an award, but translation is something I genuinely love. But winning this for my second book feels amazing and pushes me to take on more projects,” she said.