Ezhuthachan award for Attur Ravi Varma

November 23, 2012 02:03 am | Updated 02:03 am IST - THRISSUR:

Culture Minister K.C. Joseph felicitates poet Attur Ravi Varma at his residence inThrissur on Thursday. Photo: Special Arrangement

Culture Minister K.C. Joseph felicitates poet Attur Ravi Varma at his residence inThrissur on Thursday. Photo: Special Arrangement

Poet Attur Ravi Varma has been selected for this year’s Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the State government’s highest literary honour. Culture Minister K.C. Joseph announced this at a press conference here on Thursday.

The award, which includes a purse of Rs.1.5 lakh, a citation and a statuette, was decided by a committee comprising Kerala Sahitya Akademi president Perumbadavam Sreedharan (chairman), D. Babu Paul, C.V. Balakrishnan, Akbar Kakkattil, and principal secretary Sajan Peter (member secretary).

The award will be presented at a function in Thiruvananthapuram in the second week of December.

Mr. Joseph on Thursday called on Mr. Varma at his residence here to apprise him of the award.

“Am I being selected because I am getting old?” the poet jested.

“The award was the least expected and comes as a surprise. I have written very little. Much of this I have thrown away. Silence empowers the word. Poems rarely visit me now as I am getting old. I am translating the Kamba Ramayana into Malayalam,” he said.

A major practitioner of modern Malayalam poetry, he is an alumnus of University College, Thiruvananthapuram, Malabar Christian College and Kozhikode Samoothiri College. His works include ‘Kavitha’, ‘Attur Ravi Varmayude Kavithakal’ (1957–1994), ‘Attur Ravi Varmayude Kavithakal’ (1995–2003), ‘J. J. Chila Kurippukal’, ‘Oru Pulimarathinte Katha’, ‘Nale Mattoru Nale Mathram’, ‘Randam Yamangalude Katha’, ‘Puthunanooru’, ‘Bhakthikavyam’ and ‘Thazmizh Puthu Kavithakal’ (translation). He has won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi awards for poetry and translation and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award.

The recipients of the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram are Sooranad Kunjan Pillai (1993); Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (1994); Balamani Amma (1995); K. M. George (1996); Ponkunnam Varkey (1997); M.P. Appan (1998); K. P. Narayana Pisharody (1999); Pala Narayanan Nair (2000), O.V. Vijayan (2001); Kamala Suraiya (2002); T. Padmanabhan (2003); Sukumar Azhikode (2004); S. Guptan Nair (2005); Kovilan (2006); O.N.V. Kurup (2007); Akkitham Achuthan Namboodiri (2008); Sugatha Kumari (2009); M. Leelavathy (2010); and M.T. Vasudevan Nair (2011).

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.