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Jayakanthan was born in 1934 in a family of agriculturalists in Cuddalore, in the North Arcot district of Tamil Nadu. He quit school after completing grade 5 education. He was then considered a problematic child. Unable to bear the harsh treatment meted out to him, he ran away from home at the age of 12 to Villupuram . There, he grew up under the aegis of his uncle from whom he imbibed communist ideologies and also got introduced to the works of Subramanya Bharathy. Circumstances forced him to move to Madras, where he spent most of his time in the CPIThe Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 december 1925.'s "JanaSakthi" office. He worked in the party's printing press and spent his evenings selling JanaSakthi magazine in street corners. During this period, he gained the acquaintance of some great CPI leaders of Tamil Nadu, like Jeevanantham . But in 1949, unexpected political developments resulted in extreme restrictions on the activities of the CPI. Jayakanthan was forced to work in a shoe shop in Thanjavur for a short period of time after which he came back to Chennai. This period was an important phase for Jayakanthan as he found more time to think and read. During this period, the CPI also was eclipsed by the emergence of the DMK and the DK, whom Jayakanthan termed as "fascists". Internal rifts within the CPI and his difference in opinion on few issues forced him to gradually withdraw from CPI and active politics.
He started writing from around 1953 in Tamil magazines such as Saraswathi,Thamarai,Grama Uzhiyan and Anantha Vikatan. He called himself "the first Tamil writer to earn a living by writing". He went on to become one the most prolific and powerful Tamil writers of the twentieth century. He also had a stint in Tamil Cinema and tried his hand at making films. He made a landmark film based on his novel, "Unnaippol Oruvan", which is considered to be a fore-runner in the Tamil Cinema. It became the first Tamil film to get an award at the Indian National level. It was awarded the President's award (third prize) in "The Best Regional film" category .
It was then that he developed a relationship with a stage actress. Jayakanthan was already married to his uncle's daughter. This chapter in his life was fictionalised into the novel "Oru Nadigai Naadagam Paarkkiral".
His stories are vivid portrayals of life as he sees them and they embrace humanity as a whole.His later works also witnessed a strong dosage of his philosphical musings.He is also considered to by one of the most influential writers Tamil Literature has ever produced.