M Balakrishnan is a prominent Tamil-language author popularly known by his pen name Ma Ilangkannan. He was the first Tamil writer to receive the South East Asian Writers Award in 1982. A prolific writer, Balakrishnan has published more than 60 short stories, five collections of short stories, three novels and three novellas. His short stories have been broadcast over radio, scripted into a television drama (Ilahitchiyankalin Oonankall), included in a number of anthologies and translated into English and Malay.
