Kamaladevi Aravindan is an award-winning and prolific bilingual writer and playwright who has published more than 160 short stories and essays, 18 stage plays, some 300 radio dramas, and five books.

She writes in both Tamil and Malayalam, and some of her works have been translated into English and published in India, Canada, and Malaysia.

In Singapore, her historical novel Sembawang, written in Tamil, was translated into English by her daughter, Anitha Devi Pillai, and published by Marshall Cavendish International Asia in 2020. The book is based on real-life events that took place in Sembawang in the 1960s. Sembawang was shortlisted for the Best Literary Book Award and the Singapore History Prize.

Kamaladevi was born in Malaysia and moved to Singapore after her marriage. She and her husband initially lived in Sembawang, and she has fond memories of the place. She decided to translate her memories, and the stories of others who lived in the area in the 1960s, into a book.

With the support of a National Heritage Board grant, she interviewed 50 former Sembawang residents and turned their accounts into a book. A book reviewer described Sembawang as a riveting account of the stories of Tamil and Malayalee men and women in 1960s Sembawang that conjures up the texture of their lived experiences.

Kamaladevi’s family moved to Malaysia from India before she was born. Growing up in Labis, a small town in Malaysia, Kamaladevi studied English, Malay, and Tamil at school, and learned to read and write in Malayalam from her father. She had a flair for languages and wrote poems in Malay and essays in Tamil for her school magazine.

A teacher from Tamil Nadu who was on an attachment at her school was impressed with her essays and sent them to a Tamil newspaper in Malaysia. The essays were published, and Kamaladevi’s writing career was launched.

When she was 15, Kamaladevi won the top prize in a Tamil literary competition. The second prize went to a prominent poet. Upset that he was beaten by a teenager, he challenged the judges’ decision and asked for proof that Kamaladevi had written the essay herself.

A tall man approached her on stage and asked her if she had written the essay and then asked her to recite some verses from classical Tamil poems. Tearfully, she did so. The man was so impressed that he said she was the pride of the Tamils, and he presented her with the garland that had been given to him as the guest of honour at the event. He was the well-known Tamil journalist and essayist, G Sarangapani, the founding editor of the Tamil Murasu newspaper and a champion of the Tamil language in Singapore.

Over the years Kamaladevi has won numerous awards in Singapore, Malaysia, and India. These include the Karigarsozhan Award from Thanjai University in 2011, the Research Award for Malaysian Tamil Female Writer in 2013, and the Tamil Language and Cultural Society’s Bharathiyar-Bharathidasan Award, an award named after a renowned Tamil poet that is given annually to Tamil poets by the Tamil Nadu state government.

In Singapore, at the Singapore Writers Festival in 2014, her short story Mugadugal from the collection Nuval, was chosen as the best Tamil short story. It was subsequently released as a short film which won three other awards.

Her Malayalam plays also saw success. In 1992, she won Singapore’s Best Playwright Award, Best Director Award and Best Author Award at the drama competition organised by Kairalee Kala Nilayam, a non-profit organisation that promotes Indian culture, fine arts and Sports in Singapore.

Kamaladevi has over the years helped to nurture the next generation of Tamil writers by conducting creative writing workshops organised by organisations such as the National Library Board and the Association of Singapore Tamil Writers. She is regularly called upon to judge Tamil literary competitions for schoolchildren.

Kamaladevi Aravindan is an award-winning and prolific bilingual writer and playwright who has published more than 160 short stories and essays, 18 stage plays, some 300 radio dramas, and five books.

She writes in both Tamil and Malayalam, and some of her works have been translated into English and published in India, Canada, and Malaysia.

In Singapore, her historical novel Sembawang, written in Tamil, was translated into English by her daughter, Anitha Devi Pillai, and published by Marshall Cavendish International Asia in 2020. The book is based on real-life events that took place in Sembawang in the 1960s. Sembawang was shortlisted for the Best Literary Book Award and the Singapore History Prize.

Kamaladevi was born in Malaysia and moved to Singapore after her marriage. She and her husband initially lived in Sembawang, and she has fond memories of the place. She decided to translate her memories, and the stories of others who lived in the area in the 1960s, into a book.

With the support of a National Heritage Board grant, she interviewed 50 former Sembawang residents and turned their accounts into a book. A book reviewer described Sembawang as a riveting account of the stories of Tamil and Malayalee men and women in 1960s Sembawang that conjures up the texture of their lived experiences.

Kamaladevi’s family moved to Malaysia from India before she was born. Growing up in Labis, a small town in Malaysia, Kamaladevi studied English, Malay, and Tamil at school, and learned to read and write in Malayalam from her father. She had a flair for languages and wrote poems in Malay and essays in Tamil for her school magazine.

A teacher from Tamil Nadu who was on an attachment at her school was impressed with her essays and sent them to a Tamil newspaper in Malaysia. The essays were published, and Kamaladevi’s writing career was launched.

When she was 15, Kamaladevi won the top prize in a Tamil literary competition. The second prize went to a prominent poet. Upset that he was beaten by a teenager, he challenged the judges’ decision and asked for proof that Kamaladevi had written the essay herself.

A tall man approached her on stage and asked her if she had written the essay and then asked her to recite some verses from classical Tamil poems. Tearfully, she did so. The man was so impressed that he said she was the pride of the Tamils, and he presented her with the garland that had been given to him as the guest of honour at the event. He was the well-known Tamil journalist and essayist, G Sarangapani, the founding editor of the Tamil Murasu newspaper and a champion of the Tamil language in Singapore.

Over the years Kamaladevi has won numerous awards in Singapore, Malaysia, and India. These include the Karigarsozhan Award from Thanjai University in 2011, the Research Award for Malaysian Tamil Female Writer in 2013, and the Tamil Language and Cultural Society’s Bharathiyar-Bharathidasan Award, an award named after a renowned Tamil poet that is given annually to Tamil poets by the Tamil Nadu state government.

In Singapore, at the Singapore Writers Festival in 2014, her short story Mugadugal from the collection Nuval, was chosen as the best Tamil short story. It was subsequently released as a short film which won three other awards.

Her Malayalam plays also saw success. In 1992, she won Singapore’s Best Playwright Award, Best Director Award and Best Author Award at the drama competition organised by Kairalee Kala Nilayam, a non-profit organisation that promotes Indian culture, fine arts and Sports in Singapore.

Kamaladevi has over the years helped to nurture the next generation of Tamil writers by conducting creative writing workshops organised by organisations such as the National Library Board and the Association of Singapore Tamil Writers. She is regularly called upon to judge Tamil literary competitions for schoolchildren.