The Kerala Sahitya Akademi or Academy for Malayalam literature is an autonomous body established to promote the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

language and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. It is situated in City of

Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

The academy was inaugurated on 15 October 1956, by

Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma Sree Padmanabhadasa Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma , popularly known as Sree Chithira Thirunal, was the last ruling Maharaja of the Princely State of Travancore, in southern India until 1949 and later the Titular Maharajah of Travancore ...

, the former king of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

, in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

. It was shifted to its present location at City of

in September, 1957. Though the

Government provides the funding and support for the academy, the administration of the academy is autonomous according to its constitution. The academy recognises superior literary works through its annual literary awards for

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

Novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, Story, Drama, Literary criticism, Biography – autobiography, Travelogue, Humour, Translation, Children's literature etc.. the academy is headed by

short story writer Vaisakhan, who is serving as its president,

Khadija Mumtaz Khadeeja Mumthas (born 1955) is a Malayalam author from Kerala state, India. She is a medical doctor by profession and is probably best known in the Kerala literary circles for her second novel '' Barsa'' which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Aw ...

as its vice president, and K P Mohanan as its secretary.

Activities

The Academy has one of the best libraries in

. It is an approved doctoral research centre for the universities in

. The Akademi also holds periodic book festivals to encourage reading among the masses. The Akademi has a picture gallery of writers of yester years. The Akademi regularly publishes three journals ''Sahithyalokam'', ''Sahithya Chakravalam'' and ''

Literary Survey'' (in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

). The Akademi awards the illustrious ''

Ezhuthachan Puraskaram The Ezhuthachan Puraskaram is the highest literary honour is given by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Government of Kerala. The award is named after Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, the father of the Malayalam language and consists of a cash prize of 5,00,00 ...

'', which is named after the father of Malayalam literature

Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (, ) (Malayalam: തുഞ്ചത്ത് രാമാനുജൻ എഴുത്തച്ഛൻ) (Floruit, ''fl.'' 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, sout ...

, yearly to prominent literary figures.

References

External links

Kerala Sahitya Academy

Sahitya Akademy : India's National Academy of Letters
{{Authority control Culture of Kerala Malayalam language Indic literature societies Organisations based in Thrissur Non-profit organisations based in India Language regulators 1956 establishments in Kerala Organizations established in 1956

History

Activities

See also

References

External links