Imayam is the pen name of V. Annamalai, a schoolteacher and one of the foremost contemporary writers in Tamil. He has seven novels, six short-story collections and a novella to his credit. He has won several prestigious awards, including the Agni Akshara Award (1994), the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers' Association Award (1994), the Amudhan Adigal Literary Award (1998), the Thamizh Thendral Thiru.Vi.Ka. Award (2009), the Anantha Vikatan Award (2016), the Iyal Award for Lifetime Achievement (2018), The Hindu's Jayakanthan Award for Contemporary Tamil Literature (2018), and most recently, the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2020 for his novel Selladha Panam.

Vasantha Surya is a poet, journalist, and translator whose prose translations from Tamil include six novels, and an anthology of contemporary short fiction (A Place to Live). The Stalk of Time and A Word Between Us are her two poetry collections in English, while among her translations of poetry are To Plunge Within, a selection of verses from the Tamil classic, Nammaaazhwaar's Thiruvaimozhi, and several poems in Tamil Dalit Writing. The Ballad of Budhni is her translation of a narrative folk poem from Bundeli Hindi. Her works for children include Mridu in Madras, translated into Tamil by Prema Srinivasan and herself, and Ramayana for Children. Her articles and reviews have appeared in major Indian publications.