From coast to Canon: Prasad Suri’s rise in Indian literature

July 1, 2025 Unknown Wizards Valli Sarvani

From a humble fishing hamlet in Andhra Pradesh to the national literary stage, Prasad Suri has charted an extraordinary path.

At just 25, he became the youngest recipient of the 2025 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, making history as the first winner from the Vada Balija fishermen community.

His award-winning Telugu novel, Mairaavana, dives deep into the untold stories of his coastal people, exploring themes of migration, oppression, gender, and resistance.

The book, born out of three years of research along the Srikakulam-Kakinada stretch, serves as both folklore and social document.

Prasad, born Surada Prasad, is the son of fishermen who migrated for a livelihood. Raised without a family tradition of literacy, he became the first to attend school.

He completed early education in Macherla, moved to Vada Rambilli for high school, and later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from JNAFAU, Hyderabad. He now studies Archaeology at MS University, Baroda.

His passion began with sketching, but later evolved into writing, shaped by a love for mythology, history, and the stories around him.

His first novel, My Name is Chiranjeevi, written at 19, tells the story of a teenager growing up in Vizag’s working-class neighbourhoods. His third book, Bachelor of Fine Arts, continues that journey into university life.

Prasad’s literary voice blends realism with folklore and cinematic influences, inspired by authors like Amitav Ghosh and Salman Rushdie, and the films he watched during the pandemic.

His mission is clear: to document the lives of the neglected, from within. He wrote the novel about fishermen as he didn’t find any novels on their lives.

For him, literature is not just art, but responsibility. Mairaavana was submitted by Chaya Publications, which also published his earlier works.

The award came as a surprise while travelling to Baroda, but for his community, it’s a long-awaited recognition.

Prasad Suri now stands as a storyteller of the sea, ensuring his people’s voices are no longer lost in the waves.

Image Credit: Furfur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons