Lakshmi Holmström MBE (1 June 1935 – 6 May 2016Amanda Hopkinson, "Lakshmi Holmström obituary", The Guardian, 18 May 2016.) was an Indian-British writer, literary critic, and translator of Tamil fiction into English. Her most prominent works were her translations of short stories and novels by contemporary writers in Tamil, such as Mauni, Pudhumaipithan, Ashoka Mitran, Sundara Ramasami, C. S. Lakshmi, Bama, and Imayam.
Education Born in Salem, Tamil Nadu, in 1935, to Paul David Devanandan and Hannah (nee Amaruvati) as the second daughter, Lakshmi lost her mother, when she was barely two years old. Her father re-married. Lakshmi received her undergraduate degree in English literature from the University of Madras and her postgraduate degree from University of Oxford. Her postgraduate work was on the work of R. K. Narayan.
Career She settled in the United Kingdom and she was the founder-trustee of SALIDAA (South Asian Diaspora Literature and Arts Archive) – an organisation archiving the work of British writers and artists of South Asian origin.
From 2003 to 2006 she was a Fellow of The Royal Literary Fund at University of East Anglia in Norwich, Norfolk, England.
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2011 for services to literature.
Death She died of cancer on 6 May 2016 in Norwich, aged 80.
Bibliography +YearTitleGenreRolePublisher1973Indian Fiction in English: the Novels of R. K. NarayanCriticismAuthorWriters Workshop, Calcutta1990The Inner Courtyard: Short Stories by Indian WomenShort story anthologyEditorVirago Press, London1992A Purple Sea (Original author: Ambai)Short story anthologyTranslatorAffiliated East-West Press1994Writing from India: Figures in a LandscapeEditorCambridge University Press 1996Silappadikaram and Manimekalai (illustrated)EpicsTranslatorOrient Blackswan2000Karukku (Original author: Bama)NovelTranslatorOxford University Press2001Beasts of Burden (Original author: Imayam )NovelTranslatorManas Waves: An Anthology of Fiction and Poetry Translated from TamilAnthologyEditor2002My father's Friend (Original author: Ashokamitran)AnthologyTranslatorSahitya Akademi2003Pudumaippittan: FictionsAnthologyTranslatorKatha, ChennaiThat's It But (Original author: Sundara Ramaswamy)Short fiction2004Mauni: A Writers' WriterCriticismAuthorWaterness (Original author: Na Muthuswamy - Neermai )Short story anthologyTranslator2005Sangati (Original author: Bama)NovelOxford University PressClarinda, a Historical Novel (Original author: A. Madhaviah)NovelSahitya Akademi2006In A Forest, A Deer: Stories (Original author: Ambai)Short story anthologyKatha, Chennai2009The Hour Past Midnight (Original author: Salma)NovelZubaan The Penguin Book of Tamil Poetry: The rapids of a great riverPoetry anthologyEditor-translatorPenguin Books 2012A Second Sunrise (Original author: Cheran Rudramoorthy)Poetry anthologyTranslator (with Sascha Ebeling)Navayana
Awards 2000 Crossword Book Award in the Indian language fiction translation category for Karukku by Bama 2006 Crossword Book Award in the Indian language fiction translation category for In a Forest, A Deer by C. S. Lakshmi 2007 Iyal Virudhu Lifetime Achievement Award given by The Tamil Literary Garden, Canada 2015 Crossword Book Award in the Indian language fiction translation category for Children, Women, Men by Sundara Ramaswamy 2016 The A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for translation from a South Asian language, awarded by the Association for Asian Studies for Children, Women and Men, originally published as Kuzhandaigal, Pengal, Aangal by Sundara Ramaswamy, Penguin Books India
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