In Jan 2025, at the Chennai Book Fair, a group of women readers got into an informal discussion about contemporary Tamil writing and which female authors to look out for that year. Finding no clear answers, they decided to focus on books in Tamil by women writers from the start of the century.“That’s how Nayagi was born,” says Deepa Janakiraman, one of the coordinators of Nayagi.Their search for early 1900s Tamil women writers brought many surprises, from detective fiction (which many male writers of the time avoided) to women’s empowerment. “Take Sithi Junaitha Begum, for instance. In the 1930s, during Periyar’s self-respect movement and anti-Hindi agitations, she wrote that she would sacrifice her life and follow in the footsteps of Periyar to protect her mother tongue,” says Deepa. Vai Mu Kothainayaki edited magazines such as ‘Jaganmohini’ in the 1920s. Others such as Anuthama became a household name through columns in Kalaimagal and Ananda Vikatan in the 1940s.“We wanted to take those writers and their work to a larger audience, to document them and their efforts,” says Deepa. On March 22, 2025, Nayagi organized a day-long seminar highlighting 12 less-known 21st-century Tamil women writers, including Sithi Junaitha Begum, Vai Mu Kothainayaki Ammal and Savithri Ammal, as well as popular women writers such as Hephzibah Jesudasan, Anuthama, R Chudamani and Rajam Krishnan. The programme was a hit, and the group organized ‘Nayagi 1947’, an event that highlighted the sacrifices of the wives of freedom fighters. The seminar shed light on personalities such as Ponnammal Vanchinathan, Chellamma Bharati, Bhagyalakshmi V V S Aiyar, Meenakshi Ammal V O Chidambaranar, Jebamani Masilamani and Muthammal-Soundarammal Ramalingam Pillai. The third event focused on women folk musicians, Sufi poets, dance-drama stars and women playback singers of the 18th and 19th centuries.“We did one every four months,” says Deepa. “The lectures given during the seminars have been published as a book ‘Nayagi 2025’ by city-based Zero Degree Publishing and launched during the first event of ‘Nayagi 2026’ held in the city recently. The Nayagi team includes assistant film director Ahila Sridhar, film writer Deepa Janakiraman, publisher Gayathri R, special educator Jayasri, poet and art activist Palaivana Lanthar, poet Reva, short story writer Savitha and writer Tamil Ponni. “Though Nayagi focuses on women achievers, they rope in experts regardless of gender,” says Indran Rajendran, poet and critic, who was a chief guest at this year’s event.
