M. Balakrishnan, also known by his pen name Ma Ilangkannan, is a well-respected author of Tamil-language fiction in Singapore. He has published several novels and short story collections that have depicted the lives of the Tamil migrant working class in Singapore through the decades. His works have been included in Tamil-language and multilingual anthologies published in Singapore, Malaysia and India, broadcast on national radio and television, and included in Singapore’s national school curriculum. Among the awards he has received are the S.E.A. Write Award (1982), the Thamizhavel Award (Gold) (1999), and the Singapore Literature Prize (2004). In 2005, Balakrishnan received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to literature in Singapore.

Born in 1938 in Singapore, Mayandiambalam Balakrishnan was an avid reader and a budding writer during his school days. He took part in short story and essay writing competitions and won several book prizes, fuelling his passion for Tamil-language literature. Since then, he has become a well-respected and acclaimed writer of fiction in the Tamil literary scene in Singapore who has for five decades—under the pen names Ma Ilangkannan and Cinkai Ma Ilangkannan—written short stories and novels depicting the experience of Tamil migrants in Malaysia and Singapore.

Balakrishnan published his first short story Thi Vali (Pain of Fire) in 1966, and became a full-time writer the following year. Thi Vali was followed over the decades by numerous volumes of short stories and several novels that have received popular and critical acclaim in Singapore, Malaysia and India.

His fictional stories about the lives of Singapore Tamils from all walks of life have always found their origins in real life. Balakrishnan’s stories are set in specific periods of Singapore history, ranging from British colonial times through the days of the Japanese Occupation and up to the present day. With protagonists who are accompanied by characters familiar to the Singapore Tamil community, his works have struck a chord with readers for their simple yet vivid depictions of the experiences and issues faced by the Tamil migrant community in a rapidly changing multicultural Southeast Asian landscape.

Balakrishnan’s short stories have also been published in newspapers such as Singapore daily Tamil Murasu, Tamil Malar, Indian publications Ananda Vegadan and Manjari, Malaysian daily Tamil Nesan, and journals such as SINGA. They have also been translated into English and Malay and included in Tamil-language as well as multilingual short story anthologies published in Singapore, Malaysia and India. His works have also been broadcast on Radio Singapore and dramatised for the television show Ilahitchiyankalin Oonankall.

A few of his novels have also been included in the Ministry of Education school curriculum in Singapore for students of Higher Tamil. His short stories have also won awards in numerous short story competitions in Singapore and abroad, such as the first prize in the Tamil category of the 1985 Short Story Competition organised by Ministry of Community Development together with the newspapers in Singapore.

His work has been recognised by both peers and awards. His five-decade writing career has seen him receive the Thamizhavel Award (Gold) from the Association of Singapore Tamil Writers and the Singapore Literature Prize, and become the first Tamil recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award. In 2005, Balakrishnan received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to literature in Singapore.

Balakrishnan continues to write as well as conduct talks on writing and the literary arts, such as at the Singapore Writers Festival 2012.