R. N. Joe D'Cruz | |
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| Born | 1969 (age 55–56) |
| Occupation(s) | Novelist,Ship management |
| Spouse | Sasikala |
R. N. Joe D'Cruz is aTamil writer, novelist and documentary film director fromTamil Nadu, India. He won theSahitya Akademi award in 2013 in theTamil language category for his novelKorkai. He is the Tamil Nadu state president ofSamskrita Bharati.[1][2]
Joe D'Cruz has also been a managerial-executive in the shipping industry for a long time and is currently a member of the National Shipping Board of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.[3]
Joe D'Cruz was born in aRoman CatholicParavar family inUvari, a coastal village inTirunelveli District ofTamil Nadu. He did his schooling in Uvari andIdaiyangudi.[4] He graduated with an M.A.(Economics) atLoyola College, Chennai and did his M.Phil atSt. Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli. He is married to Sasikala and has two children.[5] He has been working in the shipping industry for more than two decades.
Joe D'Cruz published a Tamil poetry compilation,Pulambazhkal, in 2004. HisSahitya Akademi award-winning novelKorkai was originally published in 2009 and prior to that his 2005 novelAazhi Soozh Ulagu was awarded the Tamil Nadu state government literary award[6] andTamil Literary Garden award. Both his novels are based on history and the lives of Parathavar fishermen of Tamil Nadu.[7] The first novelAazhi Soozh Ulagu dealt with the lives of fishermen who usedcatamarans and theirconversion to Christianity. The second novel titledKorkai refers toKorkai, an ancient port city ruled byEarly Pandyan Kingdom.[8] It is about the 20th century community of pearl and conch divers there.
He also filmed documentary films such asVidiyatha Pozhuthukal (2008),Towards Dawn (2010).[5] His films mostly based on sufferings of Tamil fishermen. He wrote the dialogue for Tamil movieMaryan. He opposedKudankulam nuclear power project, arguing it will affect the livelihood of the fishermen.[9][10]
He has also expressed his reservations on the upcoming International Container Transhipment Terminal at Enayam,Kanyakumari District. He is in favour of developing existing ports over initiating new port projects in India.[3]
Joe D'Cruz along with writerAravindan Neelakandan supported the initiatives ofGopi Shankar Madurai and served on the advisory board of Srishti Madurai underAnjali Gopalan,Bracha Ettinger.[11]
The Indian Express[12] reported that Joe D'Cruz received threats and hate-mail after he expressed support for the BJP PM Candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mr.Narendra Modi, on his Facebook page. A translation of his work‘Aazhi Soozh Ulagu’ into English, was also halted in retaliation by his publisher Navyana and the translator Geetha.[13][14][15][16][17]
He turned as a strong critic of theBharatiya Janata party, three years later.[18][19] In an interview withThe Hindu, he claimed to have realised that because Modi rose up through the grassroot levels, it was a myth that he would become a strong Prime Minister, and that the BJP leadership appears to be focused in reinforcing the caste structure andManu Smriti. He also criticized the BJP for emboldening political forces to kill people for eating beef.[19] In June 2017, he claimed that there is "No place for poor" in the agenda of Prime minister Narendra Modi.[20] He criticized the proposed Maritime Container Terminal at Enayam by the BJP government and said the promoters of the project were claiming that the Enayam coastline was a natural harbour but the coast is vulnerable to natural calamities.[21]
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