S Ramakrishnan, Tamil publisher, dies of Covid-19

CHENNAI: Noted publisher

S Ramakrishnan

, who reinvented the Tamil literary world by launching

Cre-A

, an avant-garde publishing house in the 1970s, died on Tuesday while undergoing

Covid-19

treatment in Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital in Chennai. He was 75.

A few days ago, Ramakrishnan released the third edition of the “Cre-A: Dictionary of Contemporary Tamil” in the hospital. The photograph of the ventilator-bound Ramakrishnan releasing the book, evoked tremendous response on social media from readers across Tamil Nadu.

“In the 1970s, when Tamil publishers were not paying much attention to the production of books, Ramakrishnan published books with elegance. The format was as important as the content, according to him," said Amshan Kumar, national award-winning filmmaker and a friend of Ramakrishnan.

The list of Tamil books Ramakrishnan published is long, the most important among them being Iravatham Mahadevan’s “Early Tamil Epigraphy”.

He published the books of veteran writers like Sundara Ramasamy, Ashokamitran, Sa Kandasamy, C Mohan and many others. He was closely associated with cultural and art clubs in Tamil Nadu. Ramakrishnan also ran a film society called "Poorva” which used to screen award-winning movies.

“He was a star among Tamil publishers. Writers considered it a privilege to have their works published by him because of the meticulous care he took in publishing,” he said.

Ramakrishnan’s wife passed away five years ago.


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