Uma Balu

Uma Balu is a writer and translator from Kerala, South India. She has a natural flair for languages and culture and has been working as trainer, translator and program designer for the past 10 years. Her favorite hobbies are pencil sketching, painting, bird-watching, chalk-carving, working on school/college projects relating to history, geography, culture and environment, meeting people from different parts of the world and different walks of life, writing stories/poetry, singing (various languages), etc. She has taken part in the South-Asian Translation Competition organised by KATHA, New Delhi and won the Best Translation Award for her entry “Home-coming” – a short story translated from Sri Lankan Tamil into English. She has also participated in the Shizuoka International Translation Competition in Japan. Two of her entries won awards in The Children’s Book Trust Competition, New Delhi. She was selected for the Outstanding Students’ Award Program by The Japan Foundation in 2002. Her translation of Walter Isaacson’s Exclusive Biography of Steve Jobs into Tamil is to be released shortly. She loves to share her thoughts and dreams and these find best expression in her writings.This is her first collection of poetry and she is currently working on a series of study materials for Indian students learning Asian languages. Another project under progress is a trilogy of classics in Tamil - Babur Nama, Humayun Nama and Akbar Nama. She is now active as a freelance language and culture professional. She has developed a novel concept, “Sahara Asia”, which focuses on Asian languages and cultures - especially Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Malay, Sinhala and Indian regional languages. Uma lives in Chennai with her family - mother Laxmi, husband Balu and sons Kujan, Dakshan.