Tharaniga Rajah
Tharaniga Rajah is a Tamil author from Moi. She made her debut in 2018 with the novel Det er lenge til skumring (It's a long time until dusk ) to good reviews and a nomination for the P2 listeners' novel prize. Rajah has studied Asian and African Studies and Linguistics, sits on the board of the Norwegian Writers' Center and is a guest lecturer in Literary Design at the University of Gothenburg.
Tharaniga was on a residency with us this winter in December and January. During this period she worked on her second novel, and on the translation of the novel The City We Became by N.K Jemisin. She herself writes about her stay:
"There's something about the energies in Sokndal, at least I think so. I'm drawn to it in the same way that the tide doesn't pound against the skerries along the coast here. It's quiet, there's a storm, and sometimes the wind blows at hurricane force. It feels like the house is going to fall on your head. I don't go out and feel the wind. After all, I'm from Moi and I've grown up with storms and hardship, I've missed it, I know it's completely safe. So I'm sitting inside writing my next novel."
Photo © Hanna Biørnstad and Tharaniga Rajah
Listen to Tharaniga talk about her writing, what she worked on during her stay and how her time in Sokndal affected her in the video below: