K. K. Kochu is an Indian Dalit thinker, writer and social activist. [1] [2] He was awarded the 2020 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions. [3]
He was born on February 2, 1949, at Kallara in Kottayam District. His autobiography Dalitan is his most notable work. [4] [5] [6] His other works include Budhanilekkulla Dhooram, Deshiyathakkoru Charithrapadam, Keralacharithravum Samooharoopeekaranavum, Idathupakshammillatha Kalam, Dalit Padam and Kalapavum Samskaravum.
N. S. Madhavan is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Known for his novel, Lanthan Batheriyile Luthiniyakal and a host of short stories such as Higuita, Thiruthu, Chulaimedile Shavangal and Vanmarangal Veezhumpol, Madhavan also writes football columns and travel articles. He is a distinguished fellow of Kerala Sahitya Akademi and a recipient of several major awards including Odakkuzhal Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel, Muttathu Varkey Award, Mathrubhumi Literary Award, Crossword Book Award and Kerala State Students Federation Sahithyolsav Award.
Maniyambath Mukundan is an Indian author of Malayalam literature and former diplomat. He worked as a cultural attaché at the Embassy of France in Delhi from 1961 to 2004, while concurrently working as an author. Many of his early works are set in Mahé (Mayyazhi), his homeland, which earned him the moniker Mayyazhiyude Kathakaaran. He is known to be one of the pioneers of modernity in Malayalam literature. Some of his best known works include Mayyazhippuzhayude Theerangalil, Daivathinte Vikrithikal, Kesavante Vilapangal, and Pravasam.
Sankarankutty Kunjiraman Pottekkatt was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature, traveller, and politician from Kerala. Best known for his travelogues, he has authored nearly 60 books, which include 10 novels, 24 collections of short stories, three anthologies of poems, 18 travelogues, four plays, a collection of essays and a couple of books based on personal reminiscences.
Sugathakumari was an Indian poet and activist, who was at the forefront of environmental and feminist movements in Kerala, South India. Her parents were the poet and freedom fighter Bodheswaran and V. K. Karthiyayini Amma, a Sanskrit scholar. She was the founder secretary of the Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, an organisation for the protection of nature, and of Abhaya, a home for destitute women and a day-care centre for the mentally ill. She chaired the Kerala State Women's Commission. She played a prominent role in the Save Silent Valley protest.
Attoor Ravi Varma was an Indian poet and translator of Malayalam literature. One of the pioneers of modern Malayalam poetry, Ravi Varma is a recipient of Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation, besides many other honours. The Government of Kerala honoured him with their highest literary award, the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, in 2012 and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi inducted him as their distinguished fellow in 2017.
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.
M. K. Sanu is an Indian Malayalam-language writer, critic, retired professor, biographer, journalist, orator, social activist, and human rights activist. He has authored over thirty-six books.
Kudiyirikkal Narayanan Ezhuthachan was an Indian writer and scholar of Malayalam literature. He was one among the principal followers of the idea of social impact on literature. Ezhuthachan supported Marxist literary criticism and interpreted Indian literary works based on Marxist aesthetics. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his work Keralodayam, a long narrative poem written in Sanskrit. He is the first Malayali to win Sahitya Akademi Award in Sanskrit. He died on 28 October 1981 while delivering a lecture at Calicut University.
K. P. Suveeran is a film and drama director from Kozhikode. His first movie Byari won the National Film Award for Best Film in 2011. This is the first feature film to be made in the Beary language.
The Ezhuthachan Puraskaram is the highest literary honour is given by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Government of Kerala. The award is named after Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, the father of the Malayalam language and consists of a cash prize of ₹ 5,00,000 and a citation. The prize money was enhanced by ₹ 50,000 in 2011. The award was instituted in 1993 and Sooranad Kunjan Pillai was its first recipient.
N. Kuttikrishna Pillai, better known as N. K. Desam, is a Malayalam-language poet and literary critic from the south Indian state of Kerala. In 2009, his poetry collection Mudra won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. In 2017, his Malayalam transliteration of Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore was selected for the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize.
Sunil P. Ilayidom is an Indian writer, critic, orator and university professor in Malayalam language. He writes and lectures on politics, literature, art and culture. He has received the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and is a two-time recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.
P. V. Shajikumar is a Malayalam author, screenplay writer and software engineer. He has won Kendra Sahitya Akademi's Yuva Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi's Geeta Hiranyan Award.
Thomas Joseph was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. He received Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story in 2013 for his work, Marichavar Cinema KaanukayaaNu. He was also a recipient of SBT Literary Award, Delhi Short Story Award, K. A. Kodungallore Award, V. P. Sivakumar memorial Keli Award and the Children's literary institute Award. He died on 29 July 2021, at the age of 67.
Ajijesh Pachat is a Malayalam novelist, short story writer and columnist from Malappuram, Kerala, India. He has won numerous awards, including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Geetha Hiranyan Award.
N. K. Jose from Kerala, India is a Historian and President of the Kerala History Congress known for his studies in Dalit and Christian history. Author of over 140 history and social history books, he was given the title Dalit Bandhu by Dalit organizations in 1990 in recognition of his contributions to Dalit studies and Dalit history.
S. K. Vasanthan is a Malayalam history researcher, academic and writer from Kerala, India. He has published several books in various genres such as essay, novel, short story, history of Kerala and translation.
K. P. Sankaran is a Malayalam–language literary critic from Kerala, India. Born on 15 May 1939 in Painkulam in Trichur district of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin, he was a teacher at Changanacherry S.B. College, Trichur Kerala Varma College and Mysore Regional Institute of Education from where he retired in 2001. He resides with his wife Kamala Devi in Kottapparambu near Chelavoor, Calicut since 2019. He has authored around 30 books.
Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award is a literary award instituted by UAE-based Abu Dhabi Sakthi Theatres and awarded to writers in Malayalam literature. Instituted in 1987, it is given in various categories such as novel, story, poetry, drama, literary criticism, scholarly literature and children's literature. The award for literary criticism is named Sakthi Thayat Award, the award instituted for overall contributions is named T. K. Ramakrishnan Award, and the award for other categories of literature is named Sakthi Erumeli Award.