Uma Parameswaran: Voice of South Asian Canadian Diaspora

Abstract

South Asian literature is written in English as well as in many national and regional languages of the region. South Asian literature has been produced in about forty major languages, including translations into Persian, Portuguese, French and English. Apart from male writers there have been many great female writers in the South Asian literature as well.Uma Parameswaran is a poet, playwright and short story writer. She was born in Madras and grew up in Jabalpur India. She migrated to Canada in 1960s. Uma Parameswaran read extensively drawing motivation from epic poetry and Greek theatre through her schooling and during the Indo-China war of 1962. Since settling in Canada, Parameswaran has devoted much of her writing and efforts in the literary field to creating an identifiable South Asian Canadian diaspora. Uma Parameswaran’s writings are in, one sense, a reaction to the Indian diaspora, particularly the experience of South Asian Indians in Canada and more specifically in Winnipeg the city where she has lived since 1966. Her works centerson the problems faced by South Asians and other visible minorities in Canada.