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‘One of literature’s most fiery and unclassifiable polemicists.’ —The Guardian

THE BOOK of DESIRE is the award-winning (Women’s Prize-shortlisted) writer Meena Kandasamy’s luminous translation of the Kāmattu-p-pāl, a 2000-year-old song of female love and desire.

Written by the poet Thiruvalluvar, the Kāmattu-p-pāl is the third part of the Thirukkural – one of the most important texts in Tamil literature. The most intimate section of this great work – it is also, historically, the part that has been most heavily censored. Although hundreds of male translations of the text have been published, it has also only ever been translated by a woman once before.

The Book of Desire is Meena’s own feminist reclamation of the Kāmattu-p-pāl. With her trademark wit, lyricism and passionate insight, she weaves a magic spell: taking the reader on a journey through 250 kurals, organised under separate headings – ‘The Pleasure of Sex’, ‘Renouncing Shame’, ‘The Delights of Sulking’ – the result is a fresh, vital, and breath-taking translation. This is a book that fizzes with energy, is full of delight – and a translation that conveys powerful messages about female sensuality, agency, and desire. It is a revolution 2000 years in the making.

‘Breath-taking… Electric… This classic, singing so freely of love and desire, has finally found the right translator – a poet who burns with as much fire as the ancients did.’ —The Financial Times

‘Transcendent. … One of the most startling treats among January’s releases is The Book of Desire, Meena Kandasamy’s Tamil ode to female love and desire.’ —The Independent

‘Precise and passionate… beautiful and resonant… No reader will find themselves left out of [The Book of Desire’s] fundamental language of yearning.’ —The Irish Times