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Chandrika Balan (pen name: Chandramathi)

チャンドリカ・バラン（ペンネーム：チャンドラマティ）

Chandrika Balan (Chandramathi)

Pen Names: Chandramathi（Pen name used for literary works）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1954-01-17 （Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala, India）
Nationality
Indian
Languages
English, Malayalam

Career

Occupations
Writer, Translator, Literary critic, Professor
Active Years
1976-
Affiliations
Professor of English Literature, All Saints' College, Thiruvananthapuram

Education

University of Kerala
Faculty of English / Department of English Language and Literature
Degree: BA
Period: 1972-1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: India
University of Kerala
Postgraduate/Research / Department of English Language and Literature
Degree: PhD
Period: 1984-1988
Year of Graduation: 1988
Country: India

Awards

Thoppil Ravi Foundation Award
1995
Result: 受賞
V.P. Sivakumar Smaraka Keli Award (Best Short Story)
1996
Result: 受賞
Katha National Award (fiction and translation)
1997
Organization: Katha
Result: 受賞
State Bank of Travancore Literary Award (Best Collection of fiction)
1998
Result: 受賞
Odakkuzhal Award (Best Work)
1998
Result: 受賞
Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (Best Fiction)
1999
Organization: Kerala Sahitya Akademi
Result: 受賞
Muthukulam Parvathy Amma Award (Best Woman Writer)
2004
Result: 受賞
A.P. Kalakkad Award (Best Fiction)
2004
Result: 受賞
Kerala Sahitya Akademi C.B. Kumar Endowment Award (Best collection of Essays)
2005
Organization: Kerala Sahitya Akademi
Result: 受賞
Padmarajan Puraskaram (Best Short Fiction)
2007
Result: 受賞
Kairali Award (New York) (Best Writer in Malayalam)
2007
Result: 受賞
Avaneebala Puraskaram (Best Woman Writer)
2009
Result: 受賞
O.V. Vijayan Puraskaram (Best Short Fiction)
2016
Result: 受賞
Snehathalam Award for Excellence in Literary Works (first)
2018
Result: 受賞
Pattom Ramachandran Nair Smaraka Award (for total contribution to Malayalam Literature)
2022
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Arya and Other Stories

2014 Short story collection

A collection of short stories exploring contemporary society and individual relationships, often from women's perspectives and contrasting urban and rural life.

Women's livesFamilyModernity

Invisible Walls

2018 Novel

A novel about invisible boundaries and social constraints, portraying conflicts between personal freedom and tradition.

Freedom vs constraintsIndividual and society

Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela

2006 Memoir / Non-fiction

An autobiographical memoir recounting the author's battle with cancer and family support, written with humour and poignancy. The book inspired a Malayalam film adaptation.

Illness and recoveryFamilyLife and mortality
Adaptations
  • [Film] Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela (film) (2017)

Aryavarthanam

1995 Short fiction

A collection of short fiction focusing on village and family settings, depicting interpersonal relationships.

Village lifeTradition and change

Bibliography

  • V. K. Krishna Menon (Co-Author)
  • Best-Loved Stories (Co-Editor)
  • The Private Garden: Family in Post-war British Drama
  • Critical Spectrum: Responses to Contemporary Literary Theories (Editor)
  • Arya and Other Stories
  • Invisible Walls (Novel)
  • Aryavarthanam
  • Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela (Memoir)
  • Numerous Malayalam short story collections, essay collections, and translations

Adaptations

  • Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela (film)
  • Short story 'Website' adapted by Lenin Rajendran into the film 'Night Rain' (adaptation)

Translations by Author

  • Harold Pinter's 'The Betrayal' (translated)
  • Several translations of Western works into Malayalam

Translations of Works

  • Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela (English translation: unknown)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Concise, direct proseMemoiristic voice often interlaced with humourAnalytical and theoretical approach in criticism
Recurring Motifs
Family and everyday lifeIllness and survival (cancer)Women's experiences and perspectivesClash of tradition and modernity

Health

  • Cancer
    2000年代初頭～中盤（闘病の経験を回想録に記述）
    A prolonged battle with cancer influenced her writing and led to a noted memoir recounting illness and recovery.

Legacy

Chandramathi is recognized as a writer, translator and scholar active in Malayalam and English. Known especially for her short fiction and her memoir of illness (which inspired a film), she has received numerous literary awards and is also respected for her contributions as an educator.

Academic Societies

  • Kerala Sahitya Akademi (associated)

In Popular Culture

  • The memoir 'Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela' was adapted into a film, bringing her work to a wider audience.

Trivia

  • Served as Executive Editor of 'Medieval Indian Literature' (1993–94).
  • Visited Sweden in 1998 under Sahitya Akademi's cultural exchange; the trip inspired the short story 'Reindeer'.
  • Her memoir of battling cancer served as the basis for a Malayalam film.