Balachandran Vadakkedath

Balachandran Vadakkedath (1955 – 19 October 2024) also spelt as Balachandran Vadakedath was an Indian cultural activist, writer, orator and literary critic. He was regarded as one of the cultural icons in the state of Kerala and had published numerous books emphasing his firm interest on literary work throughout his lifetime.

Biography He was born in 1955 at Nattika, a small village in the Thrissur district, Kerala. He received his primary education at St. Thomas College, Thrissur. He was born to Ramachandran Vadakkedath who was also a renowned literary critic and scholar.

Career He held several portfolios and key positions during his career including positions such as Secretary of the Kerala Kalamandalam, vice-president of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, membership of the Kendra Sahitya Academy, membership of the executive committee of the Samastha Kerala Sahitya Parishad. He also actively served in as the member of the General Council of Sahitya Akademi. He was also serving as the Chairman of 'Akam' Samskarika Vedi and was also one of the founding members of Anganam Samskarika Vedi. He also served as the President of Employees' Concord for the Nattika constituency for a brief stint and also endured a stint working as the Thrissur Taluk Secretary of the N G O Association.

He was acclaimed as an established speaker with thought-provoking ideas at his disposal, and was also regarded as a notable socio-political activist, having taken control of the proceedings in the field of literary criticism. During his career, he was conferred with many prestigious awards and nominations, including having won the Kuttippuzha Award, Kavyamandalam Award, Gurudarshana Award, Sreeshailam Literary Award, A.R. Rajarajavarma Award, C.P. Menon Award, Fr. Vadakkan Award and Kalamandalam Mukundaraja Award. In September 2019, he advocated and showed his support for veteran writer M. K. Sanu as the latter stepped down from his position of chairman of the Vayalar Ramavarma Memorial Trust citing allegations pertaining to external parties with vested interests exerting pressure on him to announce an undeserved candidate as the outright winner of the Vayalar Ramavarma Literary Award for the year 2019.

Death He experienced constraints owing to deteriorating health issues while on his return to Kozhikode from a long journey. He was eventually admitted to a private hospital in Thrissur. He was pronounced dead at the age of 69 as confirmed by the doctors upon admission to the hospital.