Veteran poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri’s ‘Anthi Maha Kalam’ has been selected for the 36th Vayalar Rama Varma Sahitya Award.
The septuagenarian poet was selected by a three-member judging panel comprising novelists C. Radhakrishnan and K.P. Ramanunni and A. Sreedharan, head of the Malayalam Department, Kannur University.
The Vayalar Rama Varma Memorial Trust, which has instituted the award, met here on Saturday and approved the judging committee’s recommendation.
Trust president M.K. Sanoo, vice-president O.N.V. Kurup and the judging panel members told reporters here on Saturday that Akkitham’s name was unanimously selected by the committee.
By conferring the honour on Akkitham, the award has acquired a renewed glory, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
Akkitham continues to be a dominant presence in the literary scenario and he is a poet who prescribed the regimen of love to heal the pains of life, Mr. Ramanunni said.
The award-winning work is selected from the original Malayalam works first published in the previous year from different branches of literature like novel, poetry or criticism. Trust secretary C.V. Thrivikraman said that the award comprising Rs.25,000, a citation and a statuette designed by Kanayi Kunhiraman would be presented by Prof. Sanoo on the death anniversary of poet Vayalar Rama Varma at a function at the Kerala University Senate Hall on October 27.
