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.
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 Mahe (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.
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.
Kandanisseri Vattamparambil Velappan Ayyappan or V. V. Ayyappan, better known by his pen name Kovilan, was an Indian Malayalam language novelist and freedom fighter from Kerala. He is considered one of the most prolific writers of contemporary Indian literature. In all, he had authored 11 novels, 10 collections of short stories, three essays and a play.
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.
Mundanat Leelavathy is a Malayalam writer, literary critic and educationist. She taught at various colleges in Kerala before retiring as Principal from Government Brennen College, Thalassery. During her long literary career, she won several awards including Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. She is a contemporary of such noted critics in Malayalam including K. M. George, S. Guptan Nair, N. Krishna Pillai, P. K. Balakrishnan, M. K. Sanu and Sukumar Azhikode. Leelavathy is a recipient of the Padma Shri Award.
Puthussery Ramachandran Pillai was an Indian poet of the Malayalam language. He was a scholar of Dravidian linguistics and a professor of Malayalam for more than three decades. On 14 March 2020, he died of age-related illnesses.
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.
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.
S. Hareesh is an Indian writer, translator and screenwriter of Malayalam literature and cinema. He is best known for his short stories and his acclaimed but controversial debut novel, Meesa, which explores caste in Kerala in the mid-20th century. The novel, initially serialized in the Mathrubhumi weekly, was withdrawn after protests by right-wing Hindutva groups and caste-community organizations for "maligning Hindu women and temple priests". It was later published as a full novel by DC Books. Hareesh is the recipient of several honours including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel and the Geetha Hiranyan Endowment of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. In November 2020, the English translation of Meesa, titled Moustache, was selected for the JCB Prize for Literature, the Indian literary award with the highest prize money.
Puthezhath Raman Menon was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Known for essays, historical writings, biographies and translations, Menon was the first to translate Tagore's works into Malayalam. He was a judge at the Kerala High Court and was a recipient of the title, Sahitya Kushalan, conferred on him by the Rajah of Cochin. Kerala Sahitya Akademi honoured him with the distinguished fellowship in 1971.
Desamangalam Ramakrishnan is a Malayalam–language poet, translator, critic and teacher. He was born in 1948 in Desamangalam in Thalapilly taluk, Trichur district. He obtained his M.A. degree in Malayalam from Pattambi Sanskrit College. Subsequently, he joined the Calicut University and researched on Malayalam poetry under K. N. Ezhuthachan. He was awarded a fellowship from the Central Ministry of Culture. He worked as a lecturer at various government colleges from 1975 to 1989. He was a professor of Malayalam literature at the University of Kerala till his retirement in 2008. He then served as Emeritus Fellow of U. G. C. in Calicut University (2009-2011).
B. Rajeevan is a Malayalam author and literary critic from Kerala, India.
Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer was one of the modern triumvirate poets of Malayalam poetry. There are two major annual literary awards instituted in his memory, both known by the name Ulloor Award.
V. Anil Kumar popularly known as Anil Vallathol is a Malayalam language writer and academic from Kerala, India. Anil hails from the family of the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon.
K. B. Sreedevi was an Indian writer, who wrote in Malayalam, under the genre of children's literature. She received several awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions and the Kerala State Film Award for Story.
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.
