Introduction Collection Highlights Back to Donor Collection Mainpage       Born in Singapore, literary pioneer Na Govindasamy (1946-1999) became a Tamil teacher at the Teachers Training College upon graduation and later a lecturer at the National Institute of Education (NIE). He made significant contributions to the development of Tamil literature in Singapore, specifically the creation of several plays, dramas and short stories for radio and television. Among the plays, two proved to be very popular, namely Anbukku Apaal and Alaigal Oyvathillai. He also published a collection of short stories entitled Thedi, an award-winning book that is available at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. For this book, Na Govindasamy received the National Book Development Council’s award in 1992. In addition, he was also the recipient of the SEA Write Award (1994). Apart from his collection of Tamil short stories Thedi, Na Govindasamy’s donated collection at the Donors Gallery includes both fiction and non-fiction works in Tamil by Singapore, Malaysian and Indian writers. There are books about the Tamils in Sumatra (by sociologist Dr A. Veeramani) and in Singapore; works on Malaysian politics, politicians and artists; events magazines such as the 25th Anniversary of Singapore published by the Indian Cultural Programme sub-committee; and those focusing on Hinduism. There are even publications related to travel, such as a book by S. S. Sharma, who chronicled his visits to temples in South India, as well as a Singapore travel guide written in Tamil.