A. Balamanogaran
இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: அ. பாலமனோகரன்
A. Balamanogaran(July 7, 1942) is an Eelam Tamil scholar. He is a notable writer, teacher, translator and painter in Eelam. His novel Nilakili won Sahitya Mandala Ya Award on 1973. He writes under the nickname Elavazhagan.
Early years, Education
A. Balamanogaran was born on July 7, 1942 to Annamalai from Thanneer Ootru village in Mullaitivu district, Sri Lanka. He studied at Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai. He started his teaching profession in 1962 in Andankulam Arasinar Tamil Kalavan Padasalai. He underwent special training in English in Palaly Kalasalai.
Personal Life
In 1967 he worked as a teacher in Mutur Muslim Maha Vidyalaya . He worked in Mulliyawalai Vidyananda College. He immigrated to Denmark in 1984.
Literary Life
When he worked as a teacher in Mutur he got introduced to an eminent(முதுபெரும்) writer V.A. Rasaratnam. V.A. Rasaratnam sent A. Balamanogaran's first story Malargal Nadapathillai to Raja Ariyathinam an editor in Chintamani, a weekly magazine of Thinapathy dailies. This story got published in a pseudo name Elavazhagan. He continued to write in Chintamani when the closeness with Raja Ariyathinam increased.
During the rule of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Tamil Nadu magazines were banned from being sold in Sri Lanka. To bridge this gap, Ezhakesari Magazine started to publish novels every month, and the famous novel Nilakili got published in the year 1973. It got the Sahitya Mandalaya award for the best novel of the year. His novel serial Vanna Kanavugal was published in Mithran magazine. Vattampoo is another novel that was released as a serial on Appaltamil (www.appaaltamil.com) ) website.
His short stories were played as radio dramas on Sri Lanka radio. His stories were translated and published in 'Weekend' an English weekly magazine.
He has translated many books into English and Danish. He translated Murugar Gunasingam's Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism A Study of Its Origins book in Tamil. He also compiled the Danish-Tamil Dictionary.
Paintings
Another face of this writer is drawing paintings. His paintings are nature-oriented as he loves nature. His paintings were born out of watercolors.
Literary Significance
In an environment that constantly published novels centered on political views and popular literature, A. Balamanogaran's Nilakili emerged as an alternate in Eelam literature and received accolades among literary critics. Like Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's Vanavasi, it is nature-centric and a visual(காட்சிவடிவான ) novel. But since then, A. Balamanogaran has not written anything worthy of literary attention.
Books
Novel
- Nandhavathi
- Thaaivazhi Thaagam
- Nilakili (Veerakesari Publications)
- Kumarapuram (Veerakesari Publications)
- Kanavugal Kainthapothu (Veerakesari Publications)
- Vannakkanavugal
- Vattampoo (Published online)
Short story collections
- Naval Maram (Danish language)
- Dheebathoranangal
Others
- Danish - Tamil dictionary - He compiled
- Vattampoo
