Maya S

Maya S. (Maya Subrahmanian or S. Maya), is an Indian author and academic hailing from Kerala. She writes novels, poems and articles of social and academic relevance. She was active in the women’s movement in Kerala for a few years from 1996 and later became interested in learning more about feminist theory, philosophy, sociology etc. and pursued higher studies in Humanities. During her PhD research at the School of Social Sciences of M G University, she wrote articles for weeklies and magazines from a feminist perspective, which were later compiled into a book. After further research at Freiburg University in Germany with an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship, she returned to India and joined an institution in Kerala with a teaching position. Currently she is teaching philosophy at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong in Meghalaya.

Writings
A book has been published after her research conducted in Germany on diasporic culture and gender. She also wrote articles about the problems of Indian women in comparison to
diaspora women of Indian origin. Her writings appeared in German magazines that iscussed Third World issues. Her works have been cited in German and Malayalam journals published
by the Malayali diaspora from Germany. She writes socio-political articles in Malayalam popular journals and newspapers. The topics covered philosophy and feminist analysis on current affairs. Her first book as a collection of such articles was published in 2008 (Yukthivadavum Sthreepakshavadavum, Ethirdisa Publishers). Her second book of Malayalam articles was published in 2021 (Dambathyethara Sahajeevitham, Kairali Books). In a talk based on this book, she explained the article on the title indicates the need to reorganize the non-democratic patriarchal family around the world to address issues of gender-based inequalities.

Along with her artiles on social analysis, she also writes fiction/literature in Malayalam. A collection of her poems titled Ihaparajnanam was published in 2010 (Paridhi Publishers). Her first novel Madhyavenalavadhikku was serialized in Samakalika Malayalam Varika in 2008-2009, and it was published as a book in 2011 ( DC Books). Dealing with the issues of  secular marriage in India, the novel depicts the life of a feminist woman who divorced due to disagreements with her partner on the politics and practice of gender within the institution of the family. Later in a book review event, she pointed out that the theme of the novel was related to her own life experiences and related social observations. Next three novels by her, Seelaavathikal (Kairali Books, Kannur), Deutschland (Green Books, Thrissur) and Veettumanushyar (Current Books, Thrissur) were published in 2023.

Veettumanushyar
Even though Covid is a disease, it was also a time that awakened human creativity. In this novel the woman’s spontaneity and creativity during Covid time could be noticed. The story is about the changes that happened in the lives of people at different age groups trapped inside the house during Corona spread. The novel depicts how a free single woman with her own style of private life, suffered during the social control due to Covid. Through this novel, the author highlights various problems of family life and emphasizes that this world also belongs to women.

Deutschland
A novel about the experiences of a girl who comes to Germany for higher studies. The simplicity of the language flows in this novel that reveals the journey there and the characteristics of the people she meets. An easy-to-read work filled with cultural analysis through Kerala and foreign life, and a love story in between.

Seelavathikal
The novel Seelaavathikal is about analysing the male-female relationship complexities through the lives of some young women. It is depicting the misogyny and hypocrisy in society, concerning the situations of relationship issues. The women in the novel are eager to live with self-respect.