ERA NATARASAN
Era.Natarasan also known as Ayesha Natarasan (Born December 8,1964) is an Indian writer of children’s books .He writes in Tamil and English. He is most famous as the author of Ayesha (a Novella) that has sold millions of Copies in 12 languages. He has written more than 80 books most of them on science and Science Fiction including Vigyana vikramadhithyan kadhaigal which won the Bala Sahitya Puraskar , India’s highest award for children Literature.
Biography:
Natarasan was born in Lalgudi , in the Southern State of Tamil Nadu in India and grew up in Trichy district. He loved Science as a child and was inspired by his teachers to become a teacher. He joined The Jamal Mohamed College and completed graduation in physics and started writing while doing his first year there. He became a teacher at an early age in a village service camp and still continuous to be one. He did his post Graduate degrees in psychology (Annamalai University) and in Education Management (Alagappa University). He married Mala Balakrishnan – a PG teacher in Mathematics and they have a son Gowthaman Natarasan and a daughter Aishwarya Natarasan. He is at present the head master of the Krishnasamy Memorial Matric Higher Secondary school, in the coastal town of cuddalore near Puducherry , India
Literary career
Era. Natarasan who started his writing career as a poet in the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan in 1982 latter got interested to write short- stories Science and Science Fiction for children so Far he has written 83 books (72 in Tamil and 11 in English). His famous work “Ayesha” a Novella about the sufferings of a school (1996) teenage girl has been translated in to 12 languages including French, Spanish, English and almost all leading Indian languages. Ayesha, short filmed in1999 won national awards.
He started writing science for children in1990s through “Thulir” Magazine (Monthly of the Tamil Nadu Science Forum) and latter published widely in all children magazines in Tamil especially in the Chutti Vikatan. His work Poojiyamam Andu (year-zero) – the story of a visually impaired boy who wants to fly to moon – became the first Tamil work to be published in Braile language
His science books are simple and creative. His teen novels like- Circus Dot com(2000), Malar Algebra(2002), Rough Note(2009), Yureka court(2010), Darwin school(2014), Vande Matharam (2016) etc..are read widely. He is able to mix science into stories and that makes in to a new style. The Vigyana Vikramadhithyan Kadhaikal(2009) has in itself the history of the medical inventions such as, Polio Vaccine, insulin, Malaria vaccine etc., which received the Bala Sahitya Puraskar the Annual Sahitya Academy Award for children literature in2014.
His recent, work for teachers ‘ Idhu yarudaya vagupparai (whose class-room is it ?) the best seller has received the Tamil Valarchithurai Virudhu in 2015, the award he has already received in 2001 for his famous book on Mathematics ‘Kanidhathin kadhai’
Era. Natarasan has brought a series (10 books) in English under the title Scientific Revolution on ten great names of science that signify the great leap forward which include Galileo, Mendel, Curie, Einstein etc.,
He is the editor of the Puthagam Pesudhu – a Tamil Monthly for Books.
References
1. Era Natarasan books – Bharathi Puthagalayam – Books for children.
2. The Hindu Metroplus Interview – Ayisha Natarajan Sep -2, 2016.
3. Sahitya Akademi – Bala Sahitya Puraskar – 2014 official announcement, Press release,
Sahitya Akademi.gov.in
External Links
1. www.eranatarasan.com official website of the Author.
2. www.tamillbooksonline.in
3. www.thamizhbooks.Com
4. www.PuthagamPesuthu.com