Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a South-Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala.
Panikkassery Keshavan Balakrishnan was an Indian novelist, critic and historian of Malayalam literature. He was best known for his novel, Ini Njan Urangatte, a novel based on Mahabharata as well as a number of critical studies which include Chandu Menon Oru Padanam, Novel - Siddhiyum Sadhanayum, Kavyakala Kumaranasaniloode and Ezhuthachante Kala : Chila Vyasabharatha Patanangalum. Kerala Sahitya Akademi awarded him their annual award for novel in 1974. He was also a recipient of the Vayalar Award and other honours.
Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair, popularly known as MT, 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. He was born in Kudallur, a small village in the present day Pattambi Taluk, Palakkad district (Palghat), which was under the Malabar District in the Madras Presidency of the British Raj. He shot into fame at the age of 20 when, 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 debut novel Naalukettu, wrote 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.
Rao Bahadur Oyyarathu Chandu Menon (1847–1899) was a Malayalam language novelist from Kerala state, India. He is the author of Indulekha, the first major novel in Malayalam published in 1889.
Mathilukal is a Malayalam novel written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer in 1965. It is one of the most cherished and well-known love stories in Malayalam. Its hero, Basheer himself, and heroine, Narayani, never meet, yet they love each other passionately. Despite being imprisoned and separated by a huge wall that divides their prisons, the two romance each other.
Channankara Velayudhan Pillai Raman Pillai, also known as C. V., was one of the major Indian novelists and playwrights and a pioneering playwright and novelist of Malayalam literature. He was known for his historical novels such as Marthandavarma, Dharmaraja and Ramaraja Bahadur; the last mentioned considered by many as one of the greatest novels written in Malayalam.
Moorkkanaat Krishnankutty Menon, better known by his nom de plume Vilasini, was an Indian writer from Kerala who wrote in Malayalam-language. He is the author of India's longest novel, Avakasikal, for which he won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1981 and Vayalar Award in 1983. His first novel Niramulla Nizhalukal won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1966.
Perumbadavam Sreedharan is a prolific Malayalam author from Kerala, India. He is the present Chairman of Kerala Sahithya Academy. He has written several novels and short stories. One of his most famous and critically acclaimed novels is Oru Sankeerthanam Pole (1993) for which he won the Vayalar Award in 1996. He got Kerala Sahithya Academy Award for his novel 'Ashtapadi'. In 2006, he was awarded the Malayattoor Award for his novel, Narayanam.
Marthandavarma is a historical romance novel by C. V. Raman Pillai published in 1891. It recounts the history of Venad (Travancore) during the final period of Rajah Rama Varma’s reign and subsequently to the accession of Marthanda Varma. Set in Kollavarsham 901–906, the story revolves around three protagonists, Ananthapadmanabhan, Subhadra and Mangoikkal Kuruppu, who try to protect the title character from Padmanabhan Thambi and Ettu Veetil Pillamar who plan to oust him from the throne of Travancore. The novel utilizes rich allusions to the Indian subcontinent and Western, historical, cultural and literary traditions.
Joy J. Kaimaparamban is an Indian novelist writing mainly in Malayalam. Born to a middle-class family of Kerala, India, Kaimaparamban became an English teacher and served in many schools in Kerala. He started his literary career at a young age and is still writing. He now lives in Vayalar, a small village in Alappuzha (Alleppey) district with his wife and two children. He has written several novels, some plays, and more than 100 short stories in his mother tongue, Malayalam. All of them were published through DC Books and SPCS, Kottayam. All India Radio has broadcast several of his short stories and dramas. He won an award in the name of Rabindranath Tagore, established by DC Books Kottayam in 1977, for his first novel Urayoorunna Pakalukal, and won the Kunkumam Prize in 1990, for his novel Theerabhoomikal. The Azure of Solicitude was his first novel in English, published by America print on demand publisher PublishAmerica September 2009. The Ayurvedic Healer is his second novel in English published by Copperhill Media Corporation. The Snake Charmer and the King Cobra is a collection of 30 short stories, published by Copperhill Media Corporation in 2013.
Subhash Chandran is a Malayalam novelist, short story writer and journalist best known for the 2010 novel Manushyanu Oru Aamukham. He is one of the most read young writers in contemporary Malayalam literature. His stories "Vadhakramam", "Sanmargam", "Parudeesa Nashtam" and "Guptham" have been adapted into films. He is the only writer to get Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for both his debut story collection (2001) and debut novel (2011). He is also a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award, Odakkuzhal Award and Vayalar Award.
Odayil Ninnu is a Malayalam novel written by P. Kesavadev in 1942. The protagonist of the novel is a rickshaw-puller named Pappu. The novel is one of the best known works of Kesavadev. Dev was in the forefront among the writers who employed new norms in the content and characterization in Malayalam fiction. Odayil Ninnu came as a shocking revelation that a finest piece of literature can be produced with commonplace themes and unconventional style of prose with ordinary mortals as heroes and heroines. Apart from the fact that the appearance of rickshaw puller was a thrilling experience at that time, the author blazed a new trail in Malayalam literature. With the appearance of the novel in 1942 began the publication of a series of high quality novels in Malayalam.
Akbar Kakkattil was an Indian short-story writer and novelist from Kerala state. His works are known for their unique narrative style which has an undertone of unfailing humour. Besides, the tales that he wrote centred on teachers and their foibles gave birth to a new genre in Malayalam literature. His 'Paadham 30' is the first teacher service story in Malayalam. His work, 'Sarga Sameeksha', a creative and critical interface of a young writer with the iconic writers of the old generation is perhaps the first of its kind among Indian languages.
Elavunkal Joseph Philip, popularly known by his pen name Kanam EJ, was a Malayalam novelist, short story writer, and lyricist. Along with his contemporary, Muttathu Varkey, he was known for his stories written with the common man in mind. Philip started the well known Malayalam weekly Manorajyam and served as its editor.
Naalukettu is a Malayalam novel written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. Published in 1958, it was MT's first major novel. The title attributes to Nālukettu, a traditional ancestral home (Taravad) of a Nair joint family. Like many other novels written by MT, Naalukettu is also set against the backdrop of the crumbling matrilineal order of Kerala in a newly independent India.
Sarah Thomas is a Malayalam language writer from Kerala, India. Her novel Narmadi Pudava won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 1979. She is also a recipient of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contribution to Malayalam Literature.
Avakasikal is a Malayalam-language novel by Vilasini published in 1980. It runs into 3958 pages, in four volumes, and is the longest novel written in any Indian language.
Aalohari Anandam is a Malayalam-language novel by Sarah Joseph published in 2013. The novel was originally serialised in Mathrubhumi Weekly.
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.
