[3] Thangappa was born on March 8, 1934, in Kurumbalaperi which is in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.
[4] His translations ranged from Tamil bhakti poetry, iconoclastic Siddhar poetry, and Kalingathu Parani, to the nineteenth century Vallalar Ramalinga Swamigal, and the twentieth century greats, Subramania Bharathi and Bharathidasan.
[6][7] Over the course of his career, he wrote more than 50 books, as well as translating the poems of Bharathi, Aravindar and Bharathidasan into English.
[9][10] He died on May 31, 2018, with his body being donated to the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research.
[11] M L Thangappa has the rare credit of winning the Sahitya Akademi awards for both children's literature and translation.