Writer Sharanya Manivannan on her picture book being translated into Tamil, her mother tongue

“Enda peyr Nilavoli,” opens Nilavoliyil Meenmathar, Ponni Arasu’s Tamil translation of my picture book Mermaids In The Moonlight, originally created in English and published by Westland in February 2021. The Tamil edition was released in January 2024 by Ethir Veliyeedu, an independent press based in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu.

From its first word, Nilavoliyil Meenmathar asserts language as an identifier: in Sri Lankan / Ilankai / Eelam Tamil, the word for “mine” is “enda”. In Indian Tamil, it is “yen”. The book has been rendered in dialect, and this to me is a triumph. Of course, I am romanising all these words here for ease of understanding.

Mermaids In The Moonlight is set in the Kallady lagoon in Mattakalappu, where on full moon nights, strange sounds emerge from within the water – a natural phenomenon that some attribute to molluscs or tidal movements. An unnamed mother, known only as Amma, and her daughter Nilavoli – named for the moonlight – sit inside a boat and listen to the lagoon’s music, and talk about mermaid stories from around the world. They are from the Tamil diaspora that was created as a result of ethnic conflict. The mother, having left the island as a child, brings her child to it for the first time. Their...

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