The well-known Tamil novelist and essayist Thiagarajan (85), popularly known as Asokamitran, has recently passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was noted for his subtlety and refreshing creativity in expression. His work “Appavin Snegithargal”, a collection of short stories won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1996. His work includes over 200 short stories, eight novels, some 15 novellas besides prose. “18-vadhu Atchakkodu”, translated into English as “The Eighteenth Parallel”, is one of his highly acclaimed novels. Many of his works have been translated into English, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and other languages.