Ten of his novels have been translated into English: Seasons of the Palm, which was shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005, Current Show, One Part Woman, A Lonely Harvest, Trail by Silence, Poonachi or the Story of a Goat, Resolve, Estuary, Rising Heat, and Pyre [3] He was a professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Salem Attur and Namakkal.

[4] Perumal Murugan was born in 1966 to a family of farmers who had small land holdings near Thiruchengodu, a town in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu.

[5] His second novel, Nizhal Mutram (1993), translated into English by V Geetha as Current Show (Tara Books, 2004), drew from his personal experience of helping his father run a soda stall in a cinema theatre.

His next novel, Kanganam (Resolve, 2008) dealt with the consequences of sex-selective abortions and female foeticide that caused a skewed sex ratio in the Kongunadu region.

[5] His novel, Madhurobhagan (2010) translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan as One Part Woman (Penguin, 2013) dealt with a young childless couple struggling within their marriage, drawing specifically from the community and culture of the Kongunadu region.

According to historian Romila Thapar, it is the story of a childless couple with a strong desire of having a child, "depicted with admirable sensitivity, anguish and gentleness".

[10] Published by Penguin Books,[11] the novel was originally written in Tamil under the name Madhorubagan and then later translated in English by Aniruddhan Vasudevan as One Part Woman.

In 2017, an anthology of Perumal Murugan's poems, Mayanathil Nitkum Maram (A Tree that Stands in the Crematorium) was published, containing his four previous collections of poetry: Nigazh Uravu, Gomuki Nadhikarai Koozhaangal, Neer Midakkum Kanngal and Velli Shani Bhudhan Nyayaru Vzhyayan Chevvai.

[16] Murugan's fifth novel Madhorubhagan (translated as 'One Part Woman') was set in his native town of Thiruchengode, and dealt with a couple, Kali and Ponna, who were the subject of social stigma and humiliation for their inability to have a child.

[17] The novel was published in 2010 and was well-received, but began to attract controversy in 2014 after local caste-based and religious Hindu groups objected to the fictional portrayal of traditions at the Ardhanareeswarar Temple in Tiruchengode, where the eponymous presiding deity is part-Shiva and part-Parvati in one idol.

The court further directed the state to provide appropriate protection when artistic or literary people come under attack, and to form an expert body to help guide the police and local administration to develop sensitivity to the issues involved.

In 2021, Murugan's picture was included in a political banner created by the Bharatiya Janata Party, in which he along with several other persons were depicted as residents of a local slum.