Ki Ra Kozhambu is a storytelling performance in Tamil, Hindi and English based on folk tales by Ki Rajanarayanan.

Ki. Rajanarayanan (popularly known as Ki Ra) was born in Idaicheval Chathirapatti village near Kovilpatti in 1922. His full name is 'Rayangala Shri Krishna Raja Narayana Perumal Ramanujam Naicker'. He dropped out of school in the seventh standard. He was appointed as a professor of folklore at Pondicherry University in the '80's. He continues to live and write in Pondicherry.

Ki. Ra.'s first published short story was Mayamaan (lit. The Magical Deer), which came out in 1958. It was an immediate success. It was followed by many more short stories. Ki Ra's stories are usually based in karisal kaadu (the scorched, drought stricken land around Kovilpatti). He centres his stories around the lives of the people in this land, their lives, beliefs, struggles and folklore. The novels Gopalla Grammam (lit. Gopalla Village) and its sequel Gopallapurathu Makkal (lit. The People of Gopallapuram) are among his most acclaimed; he won the Sahitya Akademi award for the latter in 1991.

As a folklorist, Ki. Ra. spent decades collecting folktales from the karisal kaadu and publishing them in popular magazines. In 2007, the Thanjavur based publishing house Annam compiled these folktales into a 944-page book, the Nattuppura Kadhai Kalanjiyam (Collection of Country Tales). As of 2009, he has published around 30 books. A selection of these were translated into English by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and published by BLAFT Publications in 2009 as 'Where Are You Going, You Monkeys? -- Folktales from Tamil Nadu'.

Performed by Iswar Srikumar, Malavika P.C. & Anand Sami
Directed by Rajiv Krishnan
Created in association with Anushka Meenakshi
Costumes by Kaveri Lalchand

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