Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair, popularly known as M.T., is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-Independence Indian literature. At the age of 20, as a chemistry undergraduate, he won the prize for the best short story in Malayalam at World Short Story Competition conducted by The New York Herald Tribune. His first major novel Naalukettu, written at the age of 23, won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1958. His other novels include Manju (Mist), Kaalam (Time), Asuravithu and Randamoozham. The deep emotional experiences of his early days have gone into the making of MT's novels. Most of his works are oriented towards the basic Malayalam family structure and culture and many of them were path-breaking in the history of Malayalam literature. His three seminal novels on life in the matriarchal family in Kerala are Naalukettu, Asuravithu, and Kaalam. Randamoozham, which retells the story of the Mahabharatha from the point of view of Bhimasena, is widely credited as his masterpiece.
Kamaluddin Mohammed Majeed, mononymously known as Kamal, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He was the former Chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. Kamal made his directorial debut with the 1986 film Mizhineerppoovukal. In a career spanning over three decades, Kamal has directed over forty films. His films have won various National Film Awards and Kerala State Film Awards, including films such as Kakkothi Kaavile Appoppan Thaadikal (1988), Ulladakkam (1991), Mazhayethum Munpe (1995), Niram (1999), Madhuranombarakkattu (2000), Meghamalhar (2001), Nammal (2002), Perumazhakkalam (2004), Karutha Pakshikal (2006), and Celluloid (2013).
Madhav Das Nalapat is the UNESCO Peace Chair at Manipal University, and Director of the Department of Geopolitics & International Relations. Nalapat has written columns for the Pakistan Observer, United Press International, China Daily, The Diplomat, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Economic and Political Weekly, and Rediff.
Anita Nair is an Indian novelist who writes her books in English. She is best known for her novels A Better Man, Mistress, and Lessons in Forgetting. She has also written poetry, essays, short stories, crime fiction, historical fiction, romance, and children's literature, including Muezza and Baby Jaan: Stories from the Quran.
Thinakkal Padmanabhan, popularly known as T. Padmanabhan, is an Indian short story writer of Malayalam literature. He is a recipient of several awards including the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary award of the Government of Kerala. He declined some of the earlier awards he was selected for which include Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1973), Odakkuzhal Award (1995) and Sahitya Akademi Award (1996). Mahatma Gandhi University conferred on him the honoris causa degree of the Doctor of Letters in 2018. In 2023, he was honoured with the Kerala Jyothi Award, the highest civilian award given by the Kerala Government.
Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He received the awards Padma Shri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011, the fourth and second highest civilian honours from the Government of India. In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by University of Kerala, Trivandrum. O. N. V. was known for his leftist leaning. He was a leader of All India Students Federation (AISF). He died on 13 February 2016 at KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram due to age-related illnesses, aged 84.
Lalithambika Antharjanam was an Indian author and social reformer best known for her literary works in Malayalam language. She was influenced by the Indian independence movement and social reform movements among the Nambuthiri community and her writing reflects a sensitivity to the women's role in society, in the family and as an individual. Her published oeuvre consists of short stories, poems, children's literature, and a novel, Agnisakshi which won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977. Her autobiography Atmakathaykku Oru Amukham is also considered a significant work in Malayalam literature. Her other works include Adyathe Kathakal, Takarna Talamura, Kilivatililoode, Kodunkattil Ninnu, Moodupadathil, Agni Pushpangal and Sita Mutal Satyavati Vare.
Kamala Surayya , popularly known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and married name Kamala Das, was an Indian poet in English as well as an author in Malayalam from Kerala, India .Her fame in Kerala primarily stems from her short stories and autobiography, "My Story," whereas her body of work in English, penned under the pseudonym Kamala Das, is renowned for its poems and candid autobiography. She was also a widely read columnist and wrote on diverse topics including women's issues, child care, politics, etc. Her liberal treatment of female sexuality, marked her as an iconoclast in popular culture of her generation. On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at Jehangir Hospital in Pune.
George Varghese Kakkanadan, commonly known as Kakkanadan, was an Indian short-story writer and novelist in the Malayalam language. His works broke away from the neo-realism that dominated Malayalam literature through the 1950s and 1960s. He is often credited with laying the foundation of modernism in Malayalam literature. He is a recipient of Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Awards in addition to numerous other awards and recognitions.
N. P. Mohammed, popularly known by his initials N. P., was an Indian novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Malayalam language. Along with his contemporaries like M. T. Vasudevan Nair, O. V. Vijayan, Kakkanadan, and Madhavikutty, he was known to have been one of the pioneers of modernist movement in Malayalam fiction. He was the president of Kerala Sahitya Akademi and a recipient of several awards including Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel, Lalithambika Antharjanam Award, Padmaprabha Literary Award and the Muttathu Varkey Award.
George Onakkoor is an Indian novelist who writes in Malayalam language. He was a Malayalam professor for over three decades at Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum, Kerala.
K. R. Meera is an Indian author and journalist, who writes in Malayalam. She was born in Sasthamkotta, Kollam district in Kerala. She worked as a journalist in Malayala Manorama but later resigned to concentrate more on writing. She started writing fiction in 2001 and her first short story collection Ormayude Njarambu was published in 2002. Since then she has published five collections of short stories, two novellas, five novels and two children's books. She won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009 for her short-story, Ave Maria. Her novel Aarachaar (2012) is widely regarded as one of the best literary works produced in Malayalam language. It received several awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (2013), Odakkuzhal Award (2013), Vayalar Award (2014) and Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award (2015). It was also shortlisted for the 2016 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
Nalapat Balamani Amma was an Indian poet who wrote in Malayalam. Amma (Mother), Muthassi (Grandmother), and Mazhuvinte Katha are some of her well-known works. She was a recipient of many awards and honours, including the Padma Bhushan, Saraswati Samman, Sahitya Akademi Award, and Ezhuthachan Award. She was the mother of writer Kamala Surayya.
Chandrika Balan is an Indian writer who has published books in English and Malayalam, under the pen name Chandramathi, ചന്ദ്രമതി in Malayalam. She is a writer of fiction, a translator, and critic in English and Malayalam. Chandramathi has published four books in English and 20 in Malayalam, including 12 collections of short stories, an anthology of medieval Malayalam poetry, two collections of essays, two memoirs, and five books translated from English. The Malayalam film Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela was based on her book.
My Story is an autobiographical book written by Indian author and poet Kamala Das. The book was originally published in Malayalam, titled Ente Katha. The book evoked violent reactions of admiration and criticism among the readers and critics. It remains to date the best-selling woman's autobiography in India.
C. V. Balakrishnan is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. His novels and short stories encompass the emotional issues related to mass culture, sexual politics, fate of the marginalised and institutionalised religions. An author of more than 60 literary works along with a few film scripts and film criticisms, his best known work is the novel Ayussinte Pusthakam. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award thrice and the Kerala State Film Award for Best Book on Cinema in 2002 for Cinemayude Idangal. In 2014, he won the Padmaprabha Literary Award.
Aami is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language biographical film based on the life of poet-author Kamala Das. It is written and directed by Kamal and stars Manju Warrier as Kamala Surayya, along with Murali Gopy, Tovino Thomas, Anoop Menon, and Anand Bal. The film was released on 9 February 2018. It won two Kerala State Film Awards.
Annie Thayyil, was an Indian novelist, journalist, translator and biographer of Malayalam language and a member of the Cochin Legislative Council between 1945 and 1948. Her oeuvre comprises 78 books covering the genres of novel, biography, politics, travelogue and biblical literature. She was the secretary of the Sahitya Parishad and a member of the executive council of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
Balyakala Smaranakal is 1987 autobiographical book written by Kamala Surayya (Madhavikutty). The book discusses Madhavikutty's residences in Nalappattu in Punnayurkulam and Landan Road in Kolkata, and the people she met there, as well as her experiences. She brings out her feminist vision through the child character. Balyakala Smaranakal is one of Madhavikutty's three major novels. The book's characters were drawn as paintings and displayed in the Kozhikode exhibition in 2019.
Malayalanadu was a Malayalam-language Indian literary magazine published from 1969 to 1984, under the editorship of S. K. Nair. Based in Quilon, Kerala, the magazine emerged as one of the leading literary periodicals of its era. Malayalanadu played a significant role in shaping the cultural landscape of Kerala during the 1970s and early 1980s.
