Dr.N.Kannan a naturalized citizen of Germany was born in a small village near Madurai. He had his basic education at Government Higher Secondary School, Tiruppuvanam and obtained his Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) in Tamil medium. He obtained a strong foundation in Tamil in that school from a teacher called Srinivasan. He continued his higher education in English medium at the American College, Madurai. At the American College his interest in Tamil literature was nurtured by teachers like Salamon Papiya, Nedumaran and Pon.Dinakaran. His early compositions in modern Tamil poetry began at the American College. On completion of Master of Science, he continued briefly as a Science staff at the American College but moved on to do his PhD in Biochemistry at Madurai University. During that time his poems started appearing in literary magazines such as Kanaiyazhi. He was invited to give Science programs in All India Radio, Trichy in Tamil. His debute as a short story writer began at Madurai University. Dr.N.Kannan spent 4 years at Ehime University, Japan as a post-doc. He obtained a faculty position at Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany. Germany with a population of more than 45,000 Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka became his second Tamil home. He contributed to Tamil magazine and news papers coming from London, Paris and Berlin. He gave several radio and television talks and delivered talks at various Hindu temples in Europe. Internet savvy since 1995. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute, South Korea. [see also Dr.N.Kannan - Who's who?]
His contributions to Tamil and Tamil culture is listed below:
A poetry collection entitled "pullin valiyathu" (successful than grass) is available at http://www.subaonline.net/nakannan/poem/poindex.htm A poetry collection entitled "uRangkidil aziyaathu" (not erased even in sleep) is available at kpoems2.html An poetry collection entitled "Poetry in Focus" is available at http://kavithai.rediffblogs.com/ Binlingual collection of poems at Inner space Ilai uthir kalam (The Fall) - a collection of short stories based on immigrant life. Publisher: Tamarai Selvi Publication, Anna Nagar, Chennai, India. 1998 Nizhal veLi maanthar (The Cyber People) - a collection of short stories based on life in Tamil country and abroad. Publisher: Mathi Nilayam, T.Nagar, Chennai, India. 2002. Vilai pookum ninaivukal (Saleable memories) - A collection of novelettes. Mathi Nilayam, T.Nagar, Chennai, India. 2002. Vaigai kaRRe (the breeze of River Vaigai) - a novel in making Author of a number of articles on Science, Literature and Arts published in various Tamil magazines such as Subamangala, Kanaiyazhi, Puthiya Parvai, Maunam. An anthology is due for publication. Representative samples of writing is available at http://www.angelfire.com/ak/nkannan Representative samples of writing in Unicode Tamil is available at my CyberHome with a coverage of book release in Chennai and Singapore Author of a modern commentary to Nalayira Divya Prabandham - Srivaishnava Vedas. In a total of 108 articles, this commentary was serialized in Tamil Internet forums for more than 2.5 years. The entire collection is released in the form of an E-book at the Tamil Internet Conference 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The entire collection of 108 articles are available at Alwarkadiyan Author of an internet series on Tirumandiram- a Saivite book of medieval times with deep insight into science, philosophy and religion. They are available for public reading at http://www.subaonline.net/siddha/sid/tthodar.htm Author 'thiikkuL veralai vaiththaal' - multi-media CD on Vaishnava Literature. Author 'Science and Medicine in Tirumadiram' - multi-media CD on Thirumoolar. Author 'Sithi Junetha Begam' - multi-media CD on the first Muslim women novelist of Tamilnadu. Author 'Herbal medicine of Tamilnadu' - video CD introducing medical plants and their uses. Author 'Siddha Medicine' - a video CD on the traditional Tamil medical system. Author 'The antiquity of Tamil' - multi media CD on the antiquity of Tamil culture and language. Director, Tamil Heritage Foundation - a Digital Archiving Project on Tamil Cultural Heritage. Executive Committee Member and Ex-Chairman, International Forum for Information Technology in Tamil (Europe) [INFITT-Europe] - INFITT is a forum for coordinating Tamil Information Technology efforts worldwide; furthering the growth of on-line Tamil content globally; and facilitating the development of new Information Technologies for the advancement of Tamil culture, language, education and skill development, especially through global information infrastructure. The website of the International Center is available at http://www.infitt.org ; The website of the European branch is at http://www.subaonline.net/infitteurope Author of a Tamil font called "Tamizh" for Macintosh computers based on German keyboard layout. (available in the free software bundle of INFITT) Regional Coordinator (Western Europe) - Project Madurai - Digital Archiving (e-texting) of Tamil Literary works 
