Mi. Pa. Somu is the pen name of Mi. Pa. Somasundaram (Tamil: மீ. ப. சோமசுந்தரம், 17 June 1921 – 15 January 1999) a Tamil journalist, poet, writer and musicologist from Tamil Nadu, India.[1]
Somu was born in MeenakshipuraminTirunelveli District. He studied Oriental StudiesinMadras University and obtained the Vidwan certification awarded by it. He was a friend and contemporary of Pudhumaipithan. He won a short story competition conducted by the magazine Ananda Vikatan in 1938. He published his first collection of poems - Ilavenil - in 1946. It won a state award. He worked as the editor of the Tamil magazine Kalki from 1954 to 1956. He was the founder-editor of the monthly magazine Nanban from 1958 to 1960. He worked in All India Radio for over forty years and retired in 1981.[2]
In 1962, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for his travelogue Akkarai Cheemayil Arumadhangal.[3] He has written a large number of poems, short stories, novels, non fiction essays, travelogues, plays and research articles on Music. He also contributed several entries to the Tamil Encyclopedia (Kalaikalanjiyam). He died in 1999.[4]
