Our criterion
In the present literary climate the content of a work is often treated as the primary measure of its value at the expense of aesthetics. We believe that a literary work emerges when an author’s subconscious meets language and that its form and style arise naturally from this process.
Therefore we do not consider works constructed around a predetermined purpose, works intended primarily to advance simplistic notions of political correctness or works of propaganda to be literature, regardless of how noble their intentions may be. Likewise we do not consider works written primarily to entertain readers to be literature. Works created mainly as experiments in fictional technique are also regarded by us as secondary.
We seek to honour writers who create great works of literature that embody the totality of the human inner world, works that can be experienced and understood by human beings across cultures and throughout the world.
Eligibility
- The writer must be living at the time of nomination.
- The body of work must span at least twenty-five years of published writing.
- Any literary language, any country of residence, any citizenship.
- Self-nomination is not accepted.
Nomination
Nominations are invited from universities, national and international literary societies, publishers of literary work, past laureates and members of the Living Tamil committee. A single nominator may submit one candidate per cycle.
The nomination dossier should include a critical statement, a list of major works with translations.
The award
The laureate receives a citation, a medal and a purse. The Award also underwrites a year-long programme of translations and public readings. This carries the laureate's work to new audiences and languages through the association's chapters in India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.
A literary movement, not just an award
The Living Tamil Award does not begin in an institution and then invite readers in. It begins with readers. Thousands of them, living in many countries, read, discuss and sustain the movement throughout the year.
This movement publishes the literary weekly Southbound Review. It holds regular literary gatherings and online conversations as well as literary training programmes every weekend. Every year the Living Tamil Lit Fest is held in major cities around the world.
The selection of writers for the award emerges from an extensive reading movement that continues throughout the year.
The award is the public expression of a reading life already in motion: independent readers using their own money and their own literary judgement to honour a writer.