The acclaimed writer was recently acknowledged

Acclaimed writer, Professor Subramani was recently acknowledged and awarded for his contributions to the Fijian Society.

Professor Subramani, known for his writing, teaches iTaukei students, at the Fiji National University’s Natabua Campus encouraging them to become writers in the iTaukei language, and also Hindi students to write in their mother tongue.

Professor Subramani was among 12 prominent Fijians who are eminent writers, artists and community leaders that were honoured for their contribution to society.

The awards ceremony was part of the Girmitiyas Centennial Celebrations held at Albert Park in Suva.

Professor Subramani edited the region’s first literary journals (Mana and Mana Review) and conducted writing workshops in many islands of the Pacific.

Currently, there is about half a dozen senior writers whose work he is editing. He has been a visiting writer/scholar to many countries including Japan, United States, West Indies and India.

The citation for the award referred to Subramani’s “legacy of work”. The legacy of work includes pioneering books: The Indo-Fijian Experience (ed.) commemorating 100 years of indenture (1979), South Pacific Literature; From Myth to Fabulation (1985, 1993) regarded as a classic, widely used as a text book here and abroad; The Fantasy Eaters (1988) has prize winning fiction and a novella; After Narrative (1990) is about search for reality and fiction; Altering Imagination (1995) represents his role as a public intellectual; Dauka Puraan (2000), the first novel in Fiji Hindi, gained world-wide recognition, and government of India award; Human Values Education (2012) used as a reference text in secondary schools; Reclaiming the Nation (2016) is about decolonising education and nation-making; New Fijian Writing (2016) includes the writings by new and established Fijian writers, and it has the first instalment of autobiography by late Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi; and a monumental new novel Fiji Maa; Mother of a Thousand (2016) of 1034 pages about women in Fiji to be published soon.

Apart from his own writing, Professor Subramani has nurtured many talents and several young Fijian writers who have been his students.

Source: Fiji National University

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