Adimadhyam Ramanamma wrote:

I was born in a small village on the banks of Godavari river in a higher class family and was raised tenderly. Our family owns a huge strip of land.

The things that contributed to my creativity are as follows: Since our building is located on the shores of the river Godavari, watching and enjoying nature became part of my growing up. I was touched by the beauty of nature, enjoyed reading, and was blessed with plenty of leisure. Reading classics like Bhagavatham and devotion to Lord Krishna instilled cultural values and integrity in me.

During those days, I read Sarat, Chalam, Kovvali, Jampana, Aravinda Ghosh, and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Also, I was reading the weekly magazines.

My inspiration for writing came from my interest in reading.

I wrote without any knowledge of story writing technique; and, used to send them to the woman’s magazine, Andhra Mahila, that was popular at the time. And they published my stories.

After my marriage, my literary interest took the backseat for nearly 6 years. Although nobody really objected to my writing, the familial responsibilities took precedence. But the desire to write was always present at my heart. For the same reason, I wrote an essay entitled “Adavaallu Atmahathulu” (Women Are Self-destructive) while I was in Culcutta and sent it to Andhra Patrika Weekly. I remember that that article created a sensation and provoked heated discussions, pro and con, which continued for nearly two months.

Although I received such a tremendous support at the time, I never wrote like that again. Then we moved to Waltair because of my husband’s job. In 1960 I started writing again especially because of the encouragement I received from my husband’s younger brother. Thus I started writing again and the first story “Pellaanni Premistha” (I love my wife) was published in Andhra Jyoti Weekly. It was translated into Kannada also.

I am not sure what would have happened if I stayed home, minding my own business and kept writing whatever I pleased. I started attending literary gatherings, conferences and mixing with other writers. That hurt my confidence in myself. However I continued to write short stories, essays and novels and they were getting published in various magazines.

My most favorite hobby is reading. Sometimes I feel like I was being pulled in two directions: The literary activity on one hand and the family obligations on the other. And then I feel like I could do justice to neither in the process and that thought was depressing to me.
I think the two major drawbacks in my nature are speaking the truth without fear of offense and wanting to fight for justice. Some consider them virtues but my life taught me that those virtues do not always give best results. Lately, my literary activity is somewhat fogged after learning that others are claiming my works as their own and taking undue credit.

My heart goes out to all the women who are subjected to injustice. I strongly believe that women should be able to acquire not only education and money but also sensitivity and scholarship. Then only women could achieve real freedom. I enclosed a list of publications. I do not believe in producing a huge volume of literature. I just write whenever I feel like writing.

[sd] Adimadhyam Ramanamma 10 January 1983.