K. G. Sankarapillai Honoured with Ezhuthachan Award

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Published on Nov 01, 2025, 01:08 PM | 2 min read

Thiruvananthapuram: Poet K. G. Sankarapillai has been selected for the Ezhuthachan Award, the highest literary honour bestowed by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi and the Kerala Government for outstanding contributions to the Malayalam language. Named after Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, regarded as the father of the Malayalam language, the award carries a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh, a citation, and a memento.

The announcement was made by Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cheriyan. The awardee was selected by a committee comprising N. S. Madhavan (Chairman), K. R. Meera, Dr. K. M. Anil (members), and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Secretary Prof. C. P. Abubacker (Member Secretary).

Born in Chavara, Kollam district, in 1947, K. G. Sankarapillai rose to prominence in the 1970s with his poem Bengal. He served as a lecturer in Malayalam at various government colleges and later as Principal of Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam.

Regarded as one of the leading practitioners of modern Malayalam poetry, his works are noted for their engagement with contemporary experiences and the notion of contemporaneity, which occupies a central place in the interpretation of his poems.

K. G. Sankarapillai was earlier awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1998, and his work K. G. Sankarapillai’s Poems won the Central Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002. In 2019, he was made a distinguished member of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.

Jury’s remarks on the awardee

“K. G. Sankarapillai is a talent that emerged from the rapid currents of modern Malayalam poetry. During a distinctive transitional phase in Indian literary nationalism, he entered the literary scene with a unique style and narrative structure. Traversing diverse modes of expression, his poetry has maintained a strong presence over the past half-century—a matter of pride for any Malayali. While responding robustly to contemporary political events, his poems retain an imaginative elegance. He is a talent whose contribution has enriched Malayalam literature in general and poetry in particular,” the jury noted.