Sirpi Balasubramaniam
A Tamil poet, critic and translator who helped found the Vanambadi poetry movement and has published over 120 books, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2022.
Sirpi Balasubramaniam, known by his pen name Sirpi, is a Tamil poet who has written for more than sixty years, and director of the Dr Arutchelvar Mahalingam Translation Institute in Pollachi. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of literature and education, from Tamil Nadu [1].
Teacher and poet
Sirpi was born on 29 July 1936 in a remote village in Tamil Nadu [2]. He took an honours degree in Tamil with a university rank in 1956, and in 1958 joined NGM College in Pollachi, where he taught for 31 years [2]. The University of Madras awarded him a PhD in comparative literature in 1987 [2].
Vanambadi and after
He has written poetry since 1958 and is one of the founders of the Vanambadi movement, which brought a new wave of social concern into Tamil poetry [2]. He has published 24 volumes of poems, 18 of criticism and research, nine biographies and 22 translations, and edited 55 volumes [2].
He has served on the Sahitya Akademi’s general council and executive board, and as convener of its Tamil advisory board from 2008 to 2012 [2]. His honours include the Tamil Nadu government’s award for his poetry collection Mouna Mayakkangal in 1982 and its Paavendhar Award in 1991 [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2022: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2022: citation for Sirpi Balasubramaniam — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
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