எழுத்தாளர் தேவகாந்தனின் கனவுச்சிறை நாவல் முழுமையாக , ஐந்து பாகங்கள், ஆய்வாளரும், மொழிபெயர்ப்பாளருமான நேத்ரா றொட்ரிகோவால் ஆங்கிலமொழிக்கு மொழிபெயர்க்கப்பட்டிருக்கின்றது.

'மாவென்சி' பதிப்பகத்தால் வெளியிடப்பட்ட நாவலின் வெளியீடு செப்டெம்பர் 6, 2025 அன்று இலக்கம் 1265 Military Trail, Scarboroughஅமைந்துள்ள AC-223 at UTSC Academic Advising & Career Centre மண்டபத்தில் நடைபெறவுள்ளது. அனைவரையும் இந்நிகழ்வில் கலந்துகொள்ளுமாறு வெளியீட்டுக் குழுவினர் அழைக்கின்றனர். நிகழ்வுக்கு வருகை தர விரும்பினால் அழைத்து உங்கள் இருக்கையைப் பதிவு செய்யும்படியும் நிகழ்வுக் குழுவினர் அழைப்பு விடுக்கின்றனர். பதிவு இலவசம்.

இந்நிகழ்வு பின்வரும் அமைப்புகளின் ஆதரவுடன் நடைபெறவுள்ளது. Mawenzi House, Ontario Arts Council, Tam Fam Lit Jam, The Tamil Literary Garden, Toronto Arts Council & Tamil Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

நிகழ்வில் தேவகாந்தனின் கனவுச்சிறை நாவலின் முழுமையான ஆங்கில மொழிபெயர்ப்பு விற்பனை செய்யப்படும். நிகழ்வில் கிடைக்கும் நிதி முழுமையாக ஸ்கார்பரோ நகரில் அமையவுள்ள தமிழ் சமூக மையத்திற்கு (Tamil Community Centre) நன்கொடையாக வழங்கப்படும் என அறிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

Dear Friends,  We warmly invite you to a celebration of Devakanthan's stirring quintet 'Prison of Dreams,' (கனவுச்சிறை/ Kanavuchirai) translated by Nedra Rodrigo.

The publication of the 'Prison of Dreams' quintet marks a historic moment in Canadian Tamil literature, as it is the first book length translations of a Tamil novelist  published in Canada. The five books have been published in a beautiful edition by Mawenzi House, thanks to the visionary work of M. G. Vassanji and Nurjehan Aziz.

Beginning with the burning of the Jaffna Library, the 'Prison of Dreams' quintet describes the tribulations faced by the diverse villagers of the micro-island of Nainativu. Tamils are subjected to pogroms and Draconian laws throughout Sri Lanka, and a struggle for a separate state emerges. Forced to flee as a refugee himself, Devakanthan drew from personal experience and community stories for a realistic and deeply moving portrayal of the marginalization and trauma experienced by refugees; the shattering of tradition and kinship relationships; and the indomitable human spirit that prevails despite it all. Compared in scale to A. Sivanandan's 'When Memory Dies,' 'Kanavuchirai' is told primarily through the character Raji, whose intelligence and compassion drive her to make choices that go in the face of the traditional life she was expected to lead. 

Peopled by extended families, religious figures, village gossips, activists, rebels and traffickers, and bringing together the everyday and the extraordinarily heroic, this quintet is an invaluable archive of times and stories almost erased from history. 

The book covers feature the artwork of Eelam Tamil artist Pirunthajini Prabakaran, with landscapes drawn from significant locations in the novels.

Please register for this event HERE. Registration is free. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Tamil Community Centre project in Scarborough.

Please share this among your networks as well!

Devakanthan (Bala Kumarasamy) was displaced by the Sri Lankan war and lived in India before moving to Canada. He now lives in Toronto and is an active member of the local Tamil literary scene as an author and arts critic. He is a reader of Sanskrit and ancient Tamil and draws on those traditions, such as in his reimaginings of the Ramayana and Mahabharata through the novels Lankapuram and Kathakalam. His Sacred Army, the first volume of the Kanavuchirai quintet, won the Tamil Nadu Government's Novel of the Year prize, while the quintet was awarded the Tamil Literary Garden's Best Novel Award in 2014. His most recent novels are Kalingu (2017), Kalaaban Kathai (2019) and Mekalai Katha (2020). Devakanthan's publications include several well-received collections of essays on literature and literary criticism, as well as short stories and novellas.

Nedra Rodrigo is the founder of the Tamil Studies Symposium at York University, and the bilingual event series, The Tam Fam Lit Jam. She is a translator, scholar, curator of multi-arts events and Advisor for the Tamil Community Centre Project in Scarborough, Ontario. Her essays have appeared in Briarpatch, C Magazine, Studies in Canadian Literature, river in an ocean, and Human Rights and the Arts: Essays on Global Asia. Nedra’s published translations include In the Shadow of the Sword (SAGE Yoda, 2020) and the Devakanthan quintet Prison of Dreams (Mawenzi House 2021-2024) for which she is receiving the Tamil Literary Garden’s Translation award for 2025. Her translations of poetry have featured in Words and Worlds, Jaggery Lit, Still We Sing: Voices on Violence Against Women, Human Rights and the Arts in Global Asia, and Out of Sri Lanka (Bloodaxe Press). She co-edited the anthology Tamil Terrains: Poems, Translations, Reflections (trace, 2025) with Geetha Sukumaran. She is a recipient of the PEN Translates SALT award for 2025, awarded by English PEN in collaboration with South Asian Literature in Translation, University of Chicago for her translations of Rashmy’s collection of poems Songs in a Time of Confinement, to be published by trace press in the Spring of 2026. She has conducted workshops in community capacity building, literature, archives, and translation in schools, universities and community.

This event is made possible with the kind support of: Mawenzi House, Ontario Arts Council, Tam Fam Lit Jam, The Tamil Literary Garden, Toronto Arts Council & Tamil Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough. 

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