Sukumar Azhikode

Sukumar Azhikode

Born:                  26 May 1926
                             Azhikode, Kannur, Kerala, India
Died:                   24 January 2012 (aged 85)
                             Thrissur, Kerala, India
Occupation:      Writer, social critic, orator, pro vice chancellor & acting vice chancellor (1974–78)
Nationality:        Indian
Notable works: Tatvamasi,
                                Aasante Seetakavyam,
                                Ramananum Malayalakavitayum,       
                                Mahatmavinte Margam, 
                                Malayala Sahityavimarsanam

Notable awards:

# Sahitya Akademi Award 1995 Tatvamasi
# Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award 1985 Tatvamasi
# Vayalar Award 1985 Tatvamasi

Sukumar Azhikode (26 May 1926 – 24 January 2012) was an Indian writer, critic and orator, acknowledged for his contributions to Malayalam language and insights on Indian philosophy. He was a scholar in Sanskrit, Malayalam, and English languages.

Azhikode's most famous work is Tatvamasi (1984, Malayalam), a book on Indian Philosophy, Vedas and Upanishads. Thathvamasi won several awards. He was a bachelor and lived in Eravimangalam near Thrissur, Kerala. Azhikode headed the Malayalam department of Calicut University and later retired as its pro-vice chancellor.

Awards & Honors:

# Sahitya Academi Award,
# Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award,
# Vayalar Award and the
# Rajaji Award.
In January 2007, Azhikode refused to accept the Padma Shri conferred on him stating that Such honours are against the Constitution. He stated The Constitution says everyone should be treated as equal. Giving such honours at different levels, the State discriminates between people. I see the Padma Shri conferred on me as an opportunity to expose this discrimination. He also won the Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam Sahithya Puraskaram lifetime achievement award.

Major works:

His concerns were wide and touched upon progressive literature (Purogamanasahityavum Mattum),
# Gandhism (Mahatmavinte Margam),
# Kumaran Asan (Aasaante Seethaakavyam),
# The teachings of Sree Narayana Guru (Guruvinte Dukham)
# Literary aesthetics (Sankara Kurup Vimarshikkapedunnu)
# Aasaante Seethaakaavyam (Asan's Sita Kavya) Ramananum Malayalakavitayum (Ramanan and Malayalam Poetry)
# Shankarakkuruppu Vimarshikkappedunnu (Sankara Kurup Critiqued)
# Mahatmavinte Margam (Way of the Mahatma)
# Purogamanasahityavum Mattum (Modern Literature and Others)
# Malayala Sahityavimarsanam (Criticism of Malayalam Literature)
# Vayanayute Swargattil (In the Paradise of Reading)
# Tatvamasi Malayala Sahitya Patanangal (Studies on Malayalam Literature)
# Tatvavum Manushyanum (Philosophy and Humans) Khandanavum Mandanavum (Destructive Criticism and Constructive Criticism)
# Entinu Bharatadare Azhikodinte Prabhashanangal (Speeches of Azhikode)
# Azhikodinte Falitangal (Jokes of Azhikode)
# Guruvinte Dukham (Sorrow of the Teacher)
# Aakasam Nashtapetunna India (India Losing Horizon)
# Pathakal Kazhchakal (Routes and Sights)
# Mahakavi Ulloor (The Great Poet Ulloor)

A Ayyappan.

A Ayyappan.

Born:                    27 October 1949
                               Nemom, Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, India
Died:                     21 October 2010 (aged 60)
                               Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Occupation:        Poet
                               Essayist
                               Translator
                                Lyricist
                               Traveller
                                Editor
                                Proof reader
                                Political worker
Nationality:          Indian
Notable works:   Veyil Thinnunna Pakshi
                                Greeshmame Sakhee
Notable awards: Asan Poetry Prize (2010)
                                Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1999)

A. Ayyappan (27 October 1949 – 21 October 2010) was a Malayalam poet in the modernist period. He is considered as the icon of anarchism in Malayalam poetry.

Literary career:

Ayyappan started writing poetry when he was a student. He became involved in the Communist Party and joined the staff of Janayugom, the party newspaper. Ayyappan is well known for his heart touching poems and his bohemian lifestyle. Ayyappan, who got intoxicated by the creativity of turning the pain of the homeless into poetry, slept on shop verandas and wrote poems — which were untainted depiction of life. In his own words, destitution and insecurity transformed him into a poet. He can be considered the icon of anarchism in Kerala. He was a close friend of the late filmmaker John Abraham. Ayyappan was also famous as a great lover of sunlight ('veyil' in Malayalam language) and a passionate adherent of Communism.

"Though a bohemian in the tradition of P. Kunhiraman Nair, Malayalam's celebrated poet of yesteryear, Ayyappan was amazingly rigorous in his poetic expression. Often, the street was his home, for homes seldom welcomed the poet in. But few writers in these times can claim to have had so vast a circle of loving and adoring friends, a large majority of them young men and women

Awards:

He won the Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram (Asan Poetry Prize), one of the highest literary awards in Malayalam literature, for the year 2010. Ayyappan was also a recipient of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1999. Ayyappan's life has been documented on a short film, Ithrayum Yathabhagam, made by Odessa Sathyan, one of the founders of Odessa Collective, a people's film movement in Kerala.

Important works:

# Mulamthandinu Rajayakshmaavu
# Yangjam
# Ente shavapetti chumakunnavarodu
# Veyil Thinnunna Pakshi
# Greeshmame sakhee
# Karuppu
# Budhanum Aattinkuttiyum
# Chitharogaaspatryile Dinangal
# Malamillaatha Pambu
# Greeshmavum Kanneerum
# Tettiyodunna SeconduSoochi
# Kalkkariyude Niramullavar (Collection of Poems)