Tamil author in Letterkenny pens a bit of history

Letterkenny-based Tamil author John Arockia Richard has published his first book, which is now housed in Donegal libraries.

'Ayarlanthin Atlantic Karaiyilirunthu, which translates to 'From the Shores of Atlantic of Ireland', is believed to be the first book written in Tamil by a Tamil author living in Ireland to be included in an Irish public library.

The book, which contains 100 contemporary Tamil poems under ten topics, was launched at St. Joseph's College in Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India on August 19, 2022.

During the last Donegal Literary Festival, Richard, had a discussion Letterkenny Mayor Councillor Donal 'Mandy' Kelly on his work on Tamil poems.

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The Mayor suggested Richard to write to the library to seek the opportunity to house his book. After initial conversations with Donegal Central Library and further proceedings, Letterkenny Library had included the book for public usage.

“As Mayor of the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District, I'm delighted to have helped and guided Richard on the this very exciting and historic journey,” Councillor Kelly told Donegal Live.

“This is the first book of its kind to now be available in Irish libraries.

“It's very important that all cultures are recognised and given opportunities such as this. I want to congratulate Richard and his family on this very exciting occasion.”

Richard, who lives in Letterkenny with his wife Angela and their children, Debbie and Tanya, intends to publish this book in both the English and Irish language in the near future.

Richard, born and brought up from a small village called Kuthalur in Sivagangai District of Tamilnadu, India has been living in Letterkenny since May 2015 and works as a Senior Technical Product Manager for Optum.

He developed his Tamil poem writing skills during his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at St. Joseph's College in Tiruchirapalli, India.

Richard promotes the Tamil language among younger generations and encourages children to develop their skills in their mother tongue.

He is involved in several Tamil language initiatives in Ireland, having previously served as the coordinator of the Tamil Thaai initiative of Ireland Tamil Sangam, one of the members of Ireland Tamil Veli and is currently a principal advisor of Ireland Tamil Academy.

Richar is a trained street theatre artist and has written dialogues for Tamil short films.

Tamil is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia and is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, as well as Sri Lanka and Singapore

Tamil is one of the longest-surviving classical languages of India and has been described as 'one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world'.