K. Satchidanandan is an Indian poet and critic, writing in Malayalam and English. A pioneer of modern poetry in Malayalam, a bilingual literary critic, playwright, editor, columnist and translator, he is the former editor of Indian Literature journal and the former secretary of Sahitya Akademi. He is also social advocate for secular anti-caste views, supporting causes like environment, human rights and free software and is a well known speaker on issues concerning contemporary Indian literature. He is the festival director of Kerala Literature Festival.
B. Sandhya is a retired officer of the Indian Police Service and a former Director General of the Kerala Fire and Rescue Services, Home Guard, and Civil Defence. She is also known for her literary contributions which have won her a number of awards including the Edasseri Award in 2007. She retired from the service with the rank of Director General of Police on May 31, 2023.
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.
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.
Thakkathu Amayankottu Rajalakshmi, better identified as Rajalakshmi, was an Indian novelist, short story writer and poet of Malayalam literature. She was the author of three novels, two poetry anthologies and a short story anthologies. Kerala Sahitya Akademi awarded her their annual award for novel in 1960, making her the third recipient of the award. Her novel, Oru Vazhiyum Kure Nizhalukalum, has been adapted into a tele-series as well as into a play by the All India Radio.
V. M. Girija is an Indian poet and essayist, writing in Malayalam language. She has published a number of books, which include Prem - Ek Album, the Hindi translation of her poetry anthology in Malayalam, Pranayam Oralbum. Kerala Sahithya Akademi awarded her their 2018 annual award for poetry and she is a recipient of 'Changmpuzha Award for literature' and the 'Basheer Amma Malayalam Puraskaram'.
Eunice de Souza was an Indian English language poet, literary critic and novelist. Among her notable books of poetry are Women in Dutch painting (1988), Ways of Belonging (1990), Nine Indian Women Poets (1997), These My Words (2012), and Learn From The Almond Leaf (2016). She published two novels, Dangerlok (2001), and Dev & SImran (2003), and was also the editor of a number of anthologies on poetry, folktales, and literary criticism.
Vellithuruthi Thazhathu Karutha Patteri Raman Bhattathiripad (1896–1982), also known as V. T. Bhattathiripad, was an Indian social reformer, dramatist and an Indian independence activist. He was best known for his contributions in the reformation of the casteism and conservatism that existed in the Namboothiri community. He wrote a number of books which include a play, Adukkalayail Ninnu Arangathekku and his autobiography, Kanneerum Kinavum and many critics consider them as notable works in Malayalam literature. Kerala Sahitya Akademi honoured him with distinguished fellowship in 1976.
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 popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the poems and explicit 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.
St. Mary's College, Thrissur is an educational and research institution for women established in 1946 in Kerala state, India. The college is managed by the CMC Educational Society of Nirmala Province of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel in the Syro Malabar Catholic Church, the college is under the jurisdiction of the Syro Malabar Catholic Bishop of Thrissur.
Euphrasia Eluvathingal was an Indian Carmelite nun of the Syro-Malabar Church, which is an Eastern Catholic Church in Kerala. Euphrasia is said to have had a vision of the Holy Family, at which point the illness she had long felt ceased. She was canonised as a saint by Pope Francis on 23 November 2014 in Vatican City. Since the beheading of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on August 29, the feast of St. Euphrasia is postponed to August 30 .
Sarah Joseph is an Indian novelist and short story writer in Malayalam. She won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and the Vayalar Award for her novel Aalahayude Penmakkal. She is a leader of the feminist movement in Kerala and is the founder of the activist organization Manushi. She joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 and contested the 2014 parliament elections from Thrissur.
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.
Khadija Mumtaz is a Malayalam author from Kerala state, India. She is a medical doctor by profession and is probably best known in the Kerala literary circles for her second novel Barsa which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2010.
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.
Franco Mulakkal is an Indian prelate of the Latin Catholic Church. He worked as the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar from 2013 until his arrest in 2018 on charges of raping a nun. He is the first bishop in Indian Catholic to be arrested for being accused in a rape case. In January 2022 the Kerala district court declared him innocent without the witnesses changing their statements. The court heard the statements of 39 witnesses in the case and he was acquitted of all charges. But the nuns are still fighting for their cause. He was forced to resign as Jalandhar bishop by the Vatican, and in June 2023 Pope accepted his resignation.
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.
Mary John Thottam, also identified as Sister Mary Benigna, was an Indian Catholic nun and a poet who wrote in Malayalam. She authored two mahakavyas, Marthoma Vijayam and Gandhi Jayanthi, a poetry anthology, Lokame Yathra, and other works. Pope Paul VI honoured her with the Benemerenti medal in 1971.
Vijayarajamallika, known as Daivathinte Makal, is a transgender poet in Malayalam literature, She is a writer, teacher, social worker, inspirational speaker, and activist.
Sangeetha Sreenivasan is a novelist, children's writer, translator, Guitarist and teacher from Kerala, India. She writes in Malayalam and English and also translates into both languages. In 2020, she received Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation for Upekshikkappetta Dinangal, the Malayalam translation of the novel The Days of Abandonment by Italian author Elena Ferrante. She is the daughter of writer activist Sarah Joseph.
