Jaya Madhavan

Jaya Madhavan (born 1 October 1972) is an award-winning Indian author, poet, The New Indian Express columnist and comic creator. She is a winner of The Children's Book Trust's All India Competition for Writers of Children's Books.[1][2][3]

Jaya Madhavan
Born	(1972-10-01) 1 October 1972 Chennai, India
Occupation	Author
Period	1998 to Present
Genre	Novelist, comics, columnist, poet
Notable works	Kabir The Weaver Poet, Sita and the Forest Bandits, Loony Life
Website
jayamadhavan.blogspot.com

Biography

Jaya Madhavan was born in Chennai, India. She studied at Kendriya Vidyalaya (KVCLRI) and studied literature at Queen Marys College Chennai, She is an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi and completed her MA in English Literature in 1994. She is an M.Phil Degree holder from University of Madras. Jaya is also a certified yoga instructor from Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram and a mental health professional by qualification and practice. She is a visiting faculty at the prestigious National Insititute of Design, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.  Jaya (also known as Neelayathakshi Jaya) currently lives in Chennai with her two children,[4] she is the granddaughter of Seetha Doraiswamy.[1][5][6]

Work

Jaya is a YA fiction writer, poet and a columnist. Her first novel, Sita and the Forest Bandits,[7][8] was awarded the first prize in the Children Book Trust's All India Competition for Writers of Children's Books in 2001 and was subsequently published by Children's Book Trust, New Delhi. Jaya's retelling of a folk tale was awarded in the folk tale category and included in the Golden Treasury of short stories published by the Children's Book Trust.  One of her short articles published in The Hindu has been included in the NCERT English textbook with permission.

Her second book for young adults Kabir The Weaver Poet is a research backed novel[9] reaching the Top 15 reading list for young adults[10][11][12] and was published by Tulika Publications [3] in 2006. Kabir The Weaver-Poet [13] [14] [15] is a labour of love born of a two-year research of Kabir's songs and dohas. The book has a 4.8 star rating on Goodreads [16] and is a celebrated YA fiction that was selected by the CBSE as part of its curriculum.[17]  It has been selected among the 15 top YA fiction for age 12–21.

To share the spirit of Kabir, Jaya along with her two sisters performs Akath Kahani [18][19][20][21][22][15][23] a unique immersive song-spoken word-dance presentation that has won rave reviews and showcased in many stages including Prithvi theatre as part of  Kabir festival in Mumbai and Sufi festival in Orissa, Auroville Kabir festival and in other parts of India. Jaya was invited to speak at the 8th edition of Kala Ghoda festival in Mumbai.[24]  

Jaya ran a very popular weekly humour column called "Loony Life" for The New Indian Express [25][26][27][28][29][30] which enjoyed a huge readership. Every fortnight her Antidep comic strip[31] (created along with her sister) could be seen in The New Indian Express's Saturday Zeitgeist feature.[1][2][32]

Jaya's third novel Sita and the twin ghosts was published as a year long series by Gokulam Children's magazine, which Jaya illustrated herself.  

Jaya's poems have been published by Unisun in their anthologies (The Peacock's cry,[33] I, me, myself, Timescapes, Mosaic [34] etc.), Muse India and the South Asian Literary Journal.[35]  Two of her published poems were selected to be translated into Croatian and published in the book Afternoon showers: an Anthology of Modern Indian Women Writers [36] brought out by the Croatian Ministry of Culture.  Fifty Indian women poets were chosen for this anthology and Jaya among them.

Jaya's short stories for children have regularly appeared in Chatterbox children's magazine, Gokulam children's magazine, The Hindu's Young World, Children Book Trust's collection of short stories, Unisun's collection of short stories etc. Her short story for adults ‘The Monarch butterfly’ won the second prize in British council- Unisun's national competition for writers of short stories 2005 and was selected by Shashi Deshpande for the collection title Winners [37], published by Unisun, Bangalore. Her short stories ‘Curse of the bird’ [38][39][40][41] and the ‘Other brother’ was also showcased in the collection of paranormal stories published by Unisun, Bangalore titled Curse of the bird. The collection was named after Jaya's story that appeared in the collection.  Jaya also won the second prize for her children's story ‘Siddharth becomes a big brother’ which was subsequently published in Unisun's collection of short stories for children titled Monsters under the bed and other stories [42].

Jaya's articles have appeared in numerous national dailies and journals including The Hindu, The Hindu's literary review, The Hindu's World of Women special supplement, The New Indian Express, the Sunday Express and the Times of India, Outlook Traveller [43]  to name a few.

Other interests

Jaya is a theatre person and a singer. She learnt Carnatic Music from Vidushi Rama Ravi while studying at JNU, New Delhi. Jaya particularly loves singing Kamakshi Navaranam and other compositions of Sri Uthuhadu Venkata Subbaiyar, along with her mother and music teacher N.Visalakshi. Jaya has translated compositions of the late 17th century poet Uthukkadu Venkata Subbaiyar into English. Jaya was part of the theatre group Kulavai and has performed in various parts of Tamil Nadu as part of street theatre. Her M.Phil dissertation was on Indian theatre with particular reference to plays of Girish Karnad. Jaya acted in the film "Raindrops on tin roof", a PUNE FTII film that was showcased in many film festivals. Jaya loves painting using walls as a canvas and believes art is the bridge to meet unmet developmental needs.

Select bibliography

• Sita and the Forest Bandits, CBT, ISBN 9788170119777
• Kabir The Weaver-Poet, Tulika books, ISBN 9788181461681
• The Peacock's Cry, Unisun Anthologies, /ISBN 978818823423
• The curse of the bird and other paranormal stories (Book ...  ISBN 8188234540 9788188234547
• Winners, ISBN 10: 8188234117  ISBN 13: 9788188234110

References

1. on Express
2. "HABITAT YOUNG VISIONARY AWARD 2010". Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 November 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. Music, film festival will spread Kabir's message – Times Of India
5. Loony Life! (Award Winning Column)
6. "And The Granny Goes To..." Archived from the original on 18 July 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2020.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. "Sita and the Forest Bandits".
9. niranjana.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/kabir-the-weaver-poet
10. 15 Midsummer Reads for Young Adults
11. http://www.saffrontree.org/2011/01/kabir-weaver-poet.html
12. World Kid Lit. "Top 15 YA reads".
13. "Kabir the Weaver Poet".
14. Tulika Publishers. "Discussing Kabir".
15. DT Next. "Akath Kahani".
16. http://pibmumbai.gov.in/scripts/detail.asp?releaseId=E2012PR4298 "Kabir the Weaver Poet on Goodreads" Check |url= value (help).
17. Kabir the Weaver Poet. "CBSE ACADEMIC" (PDF).
18. Deccan, Herald. ""Akath Kahani" review".
19. Times of India. "Akath Kahani".
20. The Hindu. "Akath Kahani".
21. The Hindu. "Akath Kahani review".
22. "Auroville Radio - Akath Kahani".
23. Empire of Enchantment. "Kabir the Weaver Poet".
24. Times of India. "Kala Ghoda Festival".
25. Indian Express. "Loony Life column".
26. The Indian Express. "Loony Life column".
27. The Indian Express. "Loony Life".
28. The Indian Express. "Loony Life".
29. The Indian Express. "Loony Life".
30. The Indian Express. "Loony Life".
31. "Antidep comic strip".
32. "High Grossing Indian Novels". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
33. "Peackocks Cry".
34. Deccan Herald. "I, Me, Myself".
35. Discussion with Authors (Including Jaya Madhavan)
36. "Sensa - 50 Indian Poets translated to Croatian".
37. "The Monarch Butterfly".
38. Hindu. "Stories".
39. "The Curse of the bird".
40. The Indian Express. "Curse of the Bird Review".
41. "Curse of the Bird". |first= missing |last= (help)
42. New Indian Express. "Monsters under the bed".
43. "Outlook Traveller".