Tamil Literature From a Translator's View: Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

The task of translating Tamil works is not simple.

Tamil literature is poetry. This is because much of Tamil history, knowledge, and lived experience was preserved through oral traditions — carried in song, memory, and verse long before it was written down.

Our written works today honour the poets of those times and the traditions they sustained.

For storytellers and translators, this creates a unique challenge: how does one not only decode centuries-old Tamil, but also carry across its imagery, structure, rhythm and cultural context. How do you honour the original work yet offer readers an accessible experience?

What is why I am honoured to welcome author, teacher, performer, and translator Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma for a talk titled Enticing Tamil Literature.

Join me for a conversation with Tamil Nadu’s 2025 Ancient Tamil Literature Promotion Award recipient as he shares his journey into Tamil and poetry, the experience of translating works of Thiruvalluvar and Avvaiyar, and reflections on how Tamil poetry travels across languages. We will also look at a few poems together, followed by a short Q&A.

Register here | Enticing Tamil Literature Fri March 6th 8:30pm Toronto Time

About my Guest Speaker

Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma is an author, translator, teacher, and performer. His translation of the classical Tamil masterpiece on ethics, power, and love, The Kural: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural, was published by Beacon Press and awarded the 2025 Ancient Tamil Literature Promotion Award by the government of Tamil Nadu, India. Other books include The Safety of Edges (poems), Give, Eat, and Live: Poems of Avvaiyar (translated from the Tamil) and Body and Earth (with the artist C.F. John). He speaks and performs widely, mentors writers and translators one-on-one, teaches for the Cozy Grammar series of online video courses, and has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, 4Culture, Artist Trust, and the U. S. Fulbright Program. thomaspruiksma.com

What You Missed in Tamil Class is a platform exploring the Tamil way of life, run by Tamil researcher, content creator and educator Kasthuree Thiyakalingam. This space seeks to define and understand the foundational values and principles that shape Tamil heritage in its original contexts, and to bring these foundations into modern Tamil culture and education as a means of reconnecting generations.