Vayalar Ramavarma, also known as Vayalar, was an Indian poet and lyricist of Malayalam language. He was known for his poems which include Sargasangeetham, Mulankaadu, Padamudrakal, Aayisha and Oru Judas janikkunnu and for around 1300 songs he penned for 256 Malayalam films. He received the National Film Award for Best Lyrics in 1972 and was the winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyricist in its year of inception which he received three more times. He was also a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1962. His collaborations with G. Devarajan produced the golden era of Malayalam film music and many songs written and composed by these duo remain the ever green classics in Malayalam. Ramavarma is regarded as one of the most successful and critically acclaimed lyricist in the history of Malayalam cinema.
Vallathol Narayana Menon was a Malayalam poet and one of the triumvirate of modern Malayalam poetry, along with Asan and Ulloor. The honorific Mahakavi was applied to him in 1913 after the publication of his MahakavyaChitrayogam. He was a nationalist poet and wrote a series of poems on various aspects of the Indian freedom movement. He also wrote against the caste system, the tyranny of the British and Brahmanas and other social orthodoxies. He founded the Kerala Kalamandalam and is credited with revitalising the traditional Keralite dance form known as Kathakali.
Panayanthitta Kunhiraman Nair, also known as Mahakavi P, was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. He was known for his romantic poems which detailed the natural beauty of his home state of Kerala in South India as well as the realities of his life and times. He received the inaugural Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1959. He was also a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Mahakavi M. P. Appan was a poet and littérateur of Malayalam. He was born in 1913 near Jagathi in Trivandrum district. His parents were Madu and Kochappi. His original name was Ponnappan. He began his career as a school teacher after completing BA Honours from the Kerala University College, Trivandrum. He retired as the District Educational Officer. He had his imprint in the literary field for over 70 years. He was the president of Asan Memorial in Thonnakkal and Mahakavi Ulloor Memorial in Jagathi. He was also a member of the Kerala Sahitya Academy from 1957 to 1967.
Pala Narayanan Nair was an Indian poet and lyricist, best known for his work, Keralam Valarunnu, written in 1953, comprising eight volumes, which earned him the title of Mahakavi. He wrote more than 5,000 poems, which have been compiled in about 43 anthologies. Nair, who also wrote the lyrics for the 1956 Malayalam movie, Avar Unarunnu, was a recipient of the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary honour of the Government of Kerala as well as Vallathol Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry, besides other honours.
Vennikkulam Gopala Kurup (1902–1980) was an Indian poet, playwright, translator, lexicographer and story writer of Malayalam. He was the author of a number of poetry anthologies, besides other works, and he translated Abhijnana Shakuntalam, Tulsi Ramayana, Tirukkuṛaḷ, the poems of Subramania Bharati and two cantos of The Light of Asia of Edwin Arnold into Malayalam. He also contributed in the preparation of a dictionary, Kairali Kosham. A recipient of the Odakkuzhal Award and Thirukural Award, Kurup received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1966. Sahitya Akademi honoured him with their annual award in 1974.
S. Guptan Nair was an Indian scholar, academic, critic and writer of Malayalam literature. Known for his literary works as well as for his oratorical skills, Nair was a prolific writer with over 35 books to his credit. He was a distinguished fellow of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi and a recipient of several honours including Kendra Sahitya Academy Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Vayalar Award, Vallathol Award and Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the last one being the highest literary award of the Government of Kerala.
S. Ramesan Nair was an Indian lyricist and poet who worked predominantly in the Malayalam film industry. Over his career he wrote songs for over 170 films and over 3,000 devotional songs outside of the films. He debuted with the movie Pathamudhayam in 1985. He was a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2010 and the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2018 for his collection of poems Gurupournami.
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, popularly known as Akkitham, was an Indian poet and essayist who wrote in Malayalam. He was known for a simple and lucid style of writing, exploring themes of profound love and compassion in his works. Some of his prominent works included Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam, Balidarshanam, and Nimisha Kshetram.
Rafeeq Ahmed is an Indian poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a six-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs to his credit, Rafeeq Ahamed is regarded as the most successful and critically acclaimed lyricist of contemporary Malayalam films.
Mahakavi Puthencavu Mathan Tharakan was a Malayalam poet.
Prabha Varma is a poet, lyricist, journalist and television presenter known for his works in Malayalam cinema. He has published ten collections of poems, three novels in verse, six books on the contemporary socio-political milieu and literature, six collections of essays in criticism, a study on media, a travelogue and a novel in english.
Smarakasilaka is a Malayalam novel written by Punathil Kunjabdulla in 1977. The story of the novel is woven around a mosque and its surroundings. The key figure is Khan Bahadur Pookkoya Thangal of the rich Arakkal family whose character is a rare mixture of dignity, benevolence and insatiable lust.
K. Appukuttan Nair (1925–2007), better known as Kozhikodan, was a film critic and writer from Kerala, India. He began writing on films from the early 1950s. He started writing in Mathrubhumi and Chandrika, and later became a regular columnist of Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly along with Cynic and Nadirsha. Kozhikodan received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Book on Cinema in 1988 for Chalathitraswadanam Engane? and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (Humour) in 2010 for the poetry collection Padachonikku Salam. He died on 20 January 2007.
Omchery N. N. Pillai is an Indian Malayalam–language playwright, novelist and poet from Kerala. He has written nine full-length plays, more than 80 one-act plays and a few novels. His plays are noted for their bold experiments in form and technique as well as the uncommon vision inherent in many of the themes. Pillai won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award twice: in 1972 for the play Pralayam and in 2010 for his overall contribution to Malayalam literature. In 2022, he was honoured with Kerala Prabha Award, second highest civilian award given by the Kerala Government.
Ezhacherry Ramachandran is a Malayalam poet, lyricist and journalist. He has penned lyrics for several Malayalam movies and albums. In 2020, he won the Vayalar Award.
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.
Iyyamcode Sreedharan is a Malayalam language writer from Kerala, India. He is well known in various fields of literature such as travelogue writer, Aattakkatha writer, playwright, poet and biographer. He received several awards including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for travelogue, Kerala Kalamandalam Mukundaraja Award and Kerala Kalamandalam Award for outstanding contribution in the field of literature.
K. V. Ramanadhan was an Indian children's writer in Malayalam. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Children's Literature in 1994 for his work Atbhutha Nirali, the C. G. Santhakumar Award by the Kerala State Institute of Children's Literature in 2011 and the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for Children's Literature in 2014 for his overall contribution to the field of children's literature.
