Noting the writer's proclivity to Dravidian ideals, the Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K.Stalin called him "an ideologue donned in black and red".

Award from the state government of Tamil Nadu are bestowed upon him for his literary contributions that captures the realities around him, about Dalits, caste, patriarchy, women, injustice and oppression.

[3] He was born on 10 March 1964 into a peasant family in Kazhudur, a village in Tittakudi taluk of present-day Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu.

Sometimes the stories are intimate portrayals of women whose indomitable spirit finds a way to express itself when faced with toughest of challenges; sometimes they are about men vulnerable enough to let go of their egos; sometimes they feel like they're about us.

The novel is constructed between two journeys: a pilgrimage of hope at the beginning; a routine trip to the washing pool in drudgery and despair in the end.

Imayam invents for the protagonist Arokkyam a particular spoken style; often relying on a string of related exclamations, it is very similar to a formal lament.

The novel is constructed on two journeys: a pilgrimage of hope at the beginning; a routine trip to the washing pool in drudgery and despair at the end.

Changing styles of dress contribute to this too, as men begin to wear shirts and trousers that need pressing rather than the traditional veshti wrapped about the waist.

At the same time as this loss in main livelihood, there is a steady decline and breakdown in the old caste prerogatives: the amount of grain that Arokkyam and Savuri were allocated by right at each household where they winnowed, dwindles to no more than a single scant tray; the head and intestines of the sacrificial twat which was traditionally the vannaan's by right begins to be auctioned.

Arokkyam has one main hope in coping with change: that the church will intervene in support of the old order, and appeal to the elders of the colony to keep up their caste obligations to their vannaan.

In fact when the church intervenes much later, it is with an offer which is totally unexpected: to take the youngest son Peter away, and train him to become a priest.

Gail Omvedt in her article in Nirappirikai (Nov. 1994) points to the mother figure in the poetry of dalit men as a continuing symbol of oppression, and also of struggle, sacrifice and sense of duty.

These women, appointed during droughts, fix the date for village festivals, perform koothu, participate in death rituals, and are not allowed a marital relationship.

The novel tracts the life of Sedal, given over to the temple during the 1945-46 drought in Tamil Nadu, whose family leaves her behind and migrates to Sri Lanka.

Set in rural Tamil Nadu, Pethavan is about a father, Pazhani, who has been ordered by the village panchayat to murder his daughter Bhakkiyam because she wants to marry a Dalit boy.

His language is abusive and abrasive throughout, but his words, when he bids Bhakkiyam goodbye and tells her to go live with her life, make not only his daughter and his future son in law, who speaks to him on the mobile, cry, but also the readers.

I had to write this story.”[11] The title story, Saavu Soru (Funeral Food), has a woman, whose daughter has eloped with a lower caste man, earning the wrath of the community.

The distressed mother gives vent to her feeling before the village god, saying that instead of committing such a “shameful” act, the daughter could have eloped with a lower caste man.

Through the protagonist of Arasanga Pallikoodam (Government School), a daily wage earner, Imayam takes pot shots at the culture of celebrating cinema stars’ birthdays.

She is summoned to the school because the teachers were peeved over her daughter distributing chocolates to her classmates on the occasion of her favourite film star's birthday.

He was honoured with Sahitya Akademi for his 2018 novel Selladha Panam,[13] which presents the case of a burnt woman, a victim of the political economy of the institution of marriage.

The story does not stop with talking about the incompatibility in their marriage, it goes on to capture life at a fire ward in a hospital like Pondicherry's JIPMER, about how flesh falls in pieces from burnt bodies, about staff carefully dressing the wounds, about outpouring of emotions, about the different kinds of stories behind the decisions... “Why is it that we hardly come across a man who sets himself on fire even if he chooses to die by suicide?

Translated to English by the accomplished Prabha Sridevan, the collection of 10 short stories mirrors the world and people that Imayam talks about.

Vasantha's lament ‘If There is a God’ is a wretched cry when her little boy dies in an accident after being sexually abused, and the criminal is protected by an apathetic system and gruelling poverty.

In ‘The Maniyakarar House’, Valliammai too asks, “Does a woman in this world have a home that belongs to her?” and decides at last to take matters into her own hands claiming real estate windfall.

In ‘The Dubai Man’s Wife’, Padmavati is racked by guilt over her sexual lapse, while ‘Over in a Moment’ is about middle-aged Kamatchi's unmet desire.

‘Santha’ tells the story of a poor woman who upholds her dignity by resisting the temptations of an affair — all these tales are way too real and soul-searing.

[15] It is in the book launch of this event, legendary Indian filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan asserted that Imayam's stories are very original, very interesting, very strong and valid.

Through a literary career that spans over three decades, his writings capture the stories of the unnoticed people often drawn from the marginalized lower strata of the society.

His characters are no dreamers but common people rooted to the land where they live, try to escape their brutal realities, and are in need of agency to voice their opinions, and do not want tomorrow as just an extension of today.