Writer Era. Murugan is conferred with Vishnupuram Award for the year 2024 for his lifetime contribution to modern Tamil literature, a press release mentioned.

The award ceremony will be held on Dec 22, 2024 at Rajasthani Sangh, R.S. Puram, Coimbatore. The award includes a cash prize of Rs.5 lakhs and a sculpture. A documentary on the awardee and a book of essays on his writings will also be released during the ceremony.

Since 2010, Vishnupuram Literary Circle Coimbatore has honoured senior literary personalities who have contributed significantly to modern Tamil literature. The award is now one of the most prestigious ones in Tamil Literature.

The illustrious list of past awardees include A.Madhavan, Poomani, Devadevan, Thelivathai Joseph, Gnanakoothan, Devathachan, Vannadasan, C. Muthuswamy, Raj Gauthaman, Abhi, SureshKumara Indrajith, Vikramadityan, Charu Nivedita and Yuvan Chandraskar.

Era Murugan was born in Sivagangai in 1953 and graduated from Puducherry Tagore Arts College. After a career that included banking, IT Department and later in informational technology with stints in UK, Thailand and USA and other countries, currently lives in Chennai. He has a daughter Aishwarya and son Ashwin Murugan, who is national level cricketer.

His first poem “Theru” was published in Kanaiyazhi magazine in 1978. Since then, he has published more than 39 books in the form of novels, short stories, essays, poems and translations. He has also published 15 e-books. The English version of his novel “Arasur vamsam” titled “The ghost of Arasur” was shortlisted for the Crossword Prize.

He has also written books on IT, Banking and Travel articles. Apart from writing dialogues for the films Unnai Pol Oruvan and Billa 2, he has also acted in a short film titled Rettai Theru. He has received the Ilakkiya Sinthanai Andiruthi Virudhu, Katha Award, Bharathiyar University Award and awards for his translations.

The award ceremony will begin at 5.20 pm on December 22. A documentary on Era Murugan called “A Garden of Shadows” and a book on his literary journey called “Muppattai Kannadiyin Parimanam” in Tamil will also be released. Kannada author Vivek Shanbhag will be the special guest and writers Jayamohan, M. Gopalakrishnan and Ramya will felicitate the awardee.

The award function is the culmination of a two-day long literary festival which starts at 10.00 am on Dec 21st at the same venue. Ten meet-the-author sessions would be held with writers and literary activists which include Vivek Shanbhag, Keerananur Jahirraja, Lavanya Sundararajan, Mayilan G Chinnappan, Tamizh Prabha, Thendral Sivakumar, Chitran, Vasagasaalai Karthikeyan, Kayal and Mandhiramuthy Azhagu and the awardee Era. Murugan. A small book exhibition will also be set up in the festival hall.