My Father's Friend and Other Stories- Sahitya Akademi Award-Winning Tamil Short Story Collection

Ashokamitran published the collection of stories called Appavin Snehidar (My Father's Friend) in 1991. It is his tenth anthology of fiction, and brings together a short novel, a novella and nine short stories, all of which were written between 1990 and 1991. Ashokamitran writes in a spare and understated style about the changing cityscape in India today, and about the lives of ordinary men and women caught up in the tragic circumstances of every day life. All the stories are shot through with a comic vision that marks Ashokamitran's work and gives it its compassion.

Ashokamitran is the pen name of J.Tyagarajan, who was born in Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, in 1931. He is one of the most distinguished of contemporary novelists and short story writers in Tamil and one of the best-known literary figures in India. His novels as well as a number of his short stories have appeared in English translation. His short stories have also been translated into French, Russian and Hungarian. He is the recipient of several awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award.

Lakshmi Holmström (1935-2016) was a critic and translator. Her critical articles and reviews have appeared in a number of journals in India and abroad. She has translated the works of many of the important modern writers in Tamil. Her translation of Karukku by Bama won the Crossword Book Award for the year 2001.

Ashokamitran, one of the most distinguished of contemporary writers in Tamil, and amongst the best-known literary figures in India, first published the collection of stories called Appavin Snehidar (translated here as My Father's Friend and Other Stories) in 1991. It was reprinted in 1996 by Narmadha Pathipagam. My Father's Friend is Ashokamitran's tenth anthology of fiction, and consists of a short novel 'Festival Evening', a novella 'Inspector Shenbagaraman', and nine short stories, all of which were written during the years 1990 and 1991. The author provides a succinct and insightful preface which points to the unity or coherence of the collection and the interconnectedness of the individual pieces of fiction contained in it, through certain characters, locations or incidents.

**Contents and Sample Pages**