out in the moonlight Perumal Murugan’s first children’s book for the paintbrush. photo credit: special arrangement
A mother walks down a narrow dirt road on a moonlit night. She has a 10-month-old baby in her lap and her five-year-old son walks forward with a lamp in his hand. He has to work in the millet fields: empty tufts Kombu The stalks have to be removed to make way for the next crop. With the moon shining, she decides to take her children along. It is a story that Perumal Murugan has heard many times from his mother. He narrates it in his trademark simple style that slowly tugs at the heartstrings out in the moonlightHis first children’s book for Paintbrush.
Perumal Murugan is 10 months old in the story. “My mother told me how that night, I slept inside a basket she had kept near the fields while she was working,” recalls the author, speaking over the phone from Namakkal where he lives. from the story thondra thunaiA collection of essays on his mother, translated into English Mother,
Illustration by Ashok Rajagopalan | photo credit: special arrangement
It has been illustrated by Ashok Rajagopalan who painted the pages in the blue of the night. The story offers a glimpse into a day in the life of a steely mother who delights in taking her little boys to work, turning a mundane task into a story she will tell them as they grow up. The book is for children ages five and up.
Perumal Murugan wrote for children years ago. Only, many of them have not been printed: “I wrote many stories and songs for my son and daughter when they were little,” he recalls, adding that they used to sing his songs at home.
Some of them were published in children’s magazines like minmini And siruvarmani, but eventually he found himself writing for adults. He says that he enjoys writing for children. “Whenever I get a chance, I connect with them,” he says, adding that he often interacts with his elder brother’s grandchildren and the children of his students. He says, “I will teach them to play the games played in the villages in their childhood.”
The author shares that he has now started writing for children once again. Poonachi, the good old goat from his novel of the same name, is now the protagonist in a series of stories for children that the author is working on. He says, “I have written about five stories and plan to add more stories and bring it out as an anthology for children.”
Written by Perumal Murugan | photo credit: special arrangement
The author has taken voluntary retirement from academia and is now writing full-time. He’s come a long way – from being the eye of the storm Madhorubagan , one part womanControversy stirred by racist groups to feature in International Booker Prize 2023 long list funeral pyreenglish translation of novel pukkuzhi, he again, talks about the tragic end of a young couple driven by the ugliness of caste. He says he is ‘happy’ with the recognition his work is getting and takes it in his stride. For him, nothing has changed.
out in the moonlight (The Paintbrush) is now available for pre-order.