Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a South-Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala. The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. Malayalam literature has been presented with 6 Jnanapith awards, the second-most for any Dravidian language and the third-highest for any Indian language.
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.
The culture of Kerala has developed over the past millennia, influences from other parts of India and abroad. It is defined by its antiquity and the organic continuity sustained by the Malayali people. Modern Kerala society took shape owing to migrations from different parts of India and abroad throughout Classical Antiquity.
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.
Shreekumar Varma is an Indian author, playwright, newspaper columnist and poet, known for the novels Lament of Mohini, Maria's Room and Kipling's Daughter, the children's books, Devil's Garden: Tales Of Pappudom, The Magic Store of Nu-Cham-Vu, Pazhassi Raja: The Royal Rebel, and his collected plays, Five & Other Plays and Midnight Hotel & Other Plays,.
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.
P. K. Gopi is an Indian poet writing in the language Malayalam and also a physiotherapist. He is a lyricist for Malayalam films and was a member of Kerala Sahitya Akademi. He was the former state president of Yuvakalasahithi.
DC Books is a book publisher based in Kerala, India. It publishes books in Malayalam.
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.
Muttathu Varkey was an Indian novelist, short story writer, and poet of Malayalam. He was best known for a genre of sentiment-filled romantic fiction known as painkili (janapriya) novel in Malayalam literature.
V. Madhusoodanan Nair is an Indian poet and critic of Malayalam literature, who is credited with contributions in popularizing poetry through recitation. He is best known for Naranathu Bhranthan, the poem with the most editions in Malayalam literature as well as his music albums featuring recitations of his own poems and poems of other major poets. Kerala Sahitya Akademi honoured him with their annual award for poetry in 1993. He is also a recipient many other honours including Sahitya Akademi Award, Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram, Padmaprabha Literary Award, Kunju Pillai Award, R. G. Mangalom Award, Souparnikatheeram Prathibhapuraskaram and Janmashtami Puraskaram.
Mancherath Thazhathethil Govindan (1919–1989) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature and a cultural activist from Kerala, India. He was known for his writings as well as for his efforts in assisting Anand to publish his debut novel, Aalkkottam, and in the production of Swayamvaram, the debut movie of Dadasaheb Phalke laureate, Adoor Gopalakrishnan. His body of work comprises short stories, poems, articles and plays. He also wrote the screenplay for Nokkukuthi, a 1983 film by Mankada Ravi Varma.
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.
C. N. Sreekantan Nair (1928–1976) was an Indian independence activist, a Malayalam writer, short story writer, playwright and screenwriter, best known for his Ramayana trilogy – Kanchana Sita, Saketham and Lankalakshmi. He wrote 10 plays, 4 short story anthologies, book of non-fiction and collected works. Kerala Sahitya Akademi awarded him their annual award for drama in 1962. He was also a recipient of the M. P. Paul Prize.
K. L. Mohana Varma is a Malayalam–language novelist, short story writer and journalist from the Indian state of Kerala. Varma is known for pioneering fiction with a subject-based theme in Malayalam story-telling. His novels Ohari, Cricket, Neethi, reflect this form. His humorous columns and articles on contemporary politics, business and sports are popular. He has 66 published works, including 2 novels in English. His books are translated into many Indian languages. He has more than 15 awards for his works. He made two documentaries and a children's film.
Vallathol Award is a literary award given by the Vallathol Sahithya Samithi for contribution to Malayalam literature. The award was instituted in 1991 in memory of Vallathol Narayana Menon, one of the modern triumvirate poets of Malayalam poetry. The prize includes a cash prize of ₹ 1,11,111 and a plaque.
Geetha Hiranyan was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Known for her short stories, compiled in three books, Ottasnappil Othukkanavilla Janmasathyam, Asangaditha and Iniyum Veedatha Hrudayathinte Kadam, she was a recipient of a number of honours including G. Sankara Kurup Janmasathabdhi Kavitha Award and Kunju Pilla Smaraka Award.
Joseph Raphael, better identified as Ponjikkara Rafi, was an Indian essayist, playwright, short story writer and a novelist of Malayalam literature. His oeuvre consists of short story anthologies, novels, philosophical works and screenplays but he is best remembered for two novels, Daivadhoothan, regarded as the first Malayalam novel written in stream of consciousness narrative style, and Ora Pro Nobis, a historical novel based on the Dutch colonial rule. He was also the author of Kaliyugam, a philosophical work jointly written with his wife, Sabeena Rafi, which fetched him the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Miscellaneous Works in 1972.
Vettoor Raman Nair was a Malayalam language writer from Kerala, India. He was the founding editor of humor magazine Pakkanar and founding chairman of the Pala Sahrudaya Samiti. He has received Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for his short story collection Puzha and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions in the field of Malayalam literature.
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.
