M. N. Paloor

Paloor Madhavan Namboothiri (22 June 1932 – 9 October 2018), commonly known as M. N. Paloor, was a Malayalam-language poet from Kerala, India. He was one of the early modernist poets in Malayalam but his writings were steeped in the poetic tradition of Malayalam. He was a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, the state's highest literary honour, in 1983 for his collection Kalikalam. He also received the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for his autobiography Kathayillathavante Katha in 2013.

Life He was born as the son of Paloor Manakkal Madhavan Namboothiri, Sr. and Sreedevi Antharjanam on 22 June 1932 in Parakkadavu, Ernakulam. Hailing from a very conservative Namboothiri family, he learned Sanskrit under scholar K. P. Narayana Pisharody at an early age. He also had the opportunity to learn Kathakali at Kerala Kalamandalam under Pattikkanthodi Ravunny Menon and Vazhenkada Kunju Nair.

Poetry Paloor is the author of some of the finest Malayalam poems of the latter half of the 20th century. His major collections are Kalikalam, Pedithondan, Theerthayathra, Bhangiyum Abhangiyum, Sangamasangeetham, Pachamanga and Sarga Dhara.

It was a personal tragedy that made him turn to poetry seriously. "It was after my sister's death at the age of 22 that poetry grew in stature in my life," he says.

Paloor's poems traced the sufferings of mankind involving all the complexities of a highly urbanised system. He is one of those poets who were part of a major turning point in the history of 20th-century Malayalam poetry. Poet and scholar K. Satchidanandan writes in Indian Literature, the Sahitya Akademi publication: "M.N. Paloor conceives God as a Sultan, smoking his pipe filled with dried human lives (The Coward). He envisages himself as the crazy poet of the 20th century caught between comets and Boeings, living on Anacin (A Poet at the Airport)."

Works Pedithondan (The Coward) Kalikalam Theerthayathra (The Pilgrimage) Sugama Sangeetham Kavitha (The Poem) Pachamanga (Raw Mango) Bhangiyum Abhangiyum Ardhanareeswaran Kathayillathavante Katha (Autobiography)

Death He died due to age-related ailments on 9 October 2018, at the age of 86.

Awards 1983: Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (Poetry) for Kalikalam 2009: Asan Memorial Poetry Prize 2004: Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for his over all contribution 2007: O.M.C. Narayanan Namboodiripad Memorial Deviprasadam Award 2007: Kavanakauthukam-Kanipayyur Award for Ardhanareeswaran 2007: Deviprasadam Trust Award 2013: Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for his autobiography Kathayillathavante Katha