K Satchidanandan

K. Satchidanandan is perhaps the most translated of contemporary Indian poets, having 49 collections of translation in 19 languages including Chinese, English, Irish, Arabic, French, German and Italian besides all the major Indian languages like Tamil, Bengali and Hindi. His seven books in English translation include While I Write: New and Selected Poems (Harper-Collins, 2011), Misplaced Objects and Other Poems ( Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 2013), The Missing Rib ( 2016 ) and Not Only the Oceans 2018) ( Poetrywala, Bombay) . His collected poems in the Malayalam original ( 1965-2015) in one volume ( DC Books) and collected translations of poetry in four volumes( Mathrubhumi Books) came out in 2016. His selected essays in six theme-based volumes are being brought out by Mathrubhumi Books.

Satchidanandan writes poetry in Malayalam, the Indian language of Kerala, and prose in both Malayalam and English and has 24 collections of poetry besides many selections and chronological collections, four books of travel, a full length play and a collection of one-act plays, and many of critical essays including five books in English on Indian literature. He has represented India in many Literary Festivals and Book Fairs across the world from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Sarajevo, Moscow, Montreal, Madrid, Soria, Segovia, Celje, Velenje New York, Washington , and Rotterdam to Beijing, Shanghai, Damascus, Dubai, Delhi, Bombay, Jaipur, Goa, Madras, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Lahore, Medellin, Caracas, Lima, and Havana.

He was the editor of ' Indian Literature' , New Delhi ( 1992-96) , chief executive of the Sahitya Akademi( Indian National Academy of Literature) from 1996 to 2006 and is at present President , Kerala Sahitya Akademi. In between he was Director, Translation Studies at Indira Gandhi National Open University, National Fellow at the All India Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla and edited Beyond Borders, a SAARC literature journal and has won 75 literary awards from different states and countries including the Sahitya Akademi award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award ( five times, for poetry, criticism, travelogue, drama and translation ), Gangadhar Meher National Award and Upendra Bhanja National Award from Orissa, Kusumagraj Award from Maharashtra, NTR National Award from Andhra Pradesh, Kuvempu Award from Karnataka , Ezhuthachan Award- the topmost award in Kerala, Vayalar Award, Ulloor Award, Kumaran Asan Award, Kesari Nayanar Award and Kamala Surayya Award from Kerala, Kamala Surayya Award from Dubai, Kerala Samajam Awards from Oman and Bahrain, Kadammaitta Award from Kuwait, World Poetry Peace Prize from UAE, India-Poland Friendship Medal from Poland , Dante Medal from Ravenna and Knighthood from the Government of Italy. He was also in the Ladbroke shortlist of ten Nobel prize probables in 2011.

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Let the Learning Begin

Born at Pulloot in Trichur District, Kerala, India on 28 May, Father: K C Shankara Menon, Mother: K. Kunjikutti Amma. First poem in Kalakusumam magazine run by the village library

Testimonials

  • Antonio Menniti Ipplito,Italian critic

    "Satchidanandan’s poetry is a lyre with many chords: it may seem light with joking tunes, it can be harsh and nearly cruel: sometimes it seems to unite all these characteristics together, especially when his poems have the form of a dialogue."

  • Carlo Savini, Italian Critic

    "In Satchidanandan, one notices a great modernity, a chosen but simple terminology of immediate understanding, something like a non-rhetorical dialogue with himself and with the reader, a wealth of symbology, a fascinatinfg smoothness of the verses, a subtle irony"

  • The Hindu

    "This is a dark, powerful, pulsating collection of poems, the effect of which continues to reverberate, disturb and shock one out of one’s complacency long after one has finished reading them"

  • Jayanta Mahapatra, Major Indian poet

    "These are poems of great strength and power, a moving tribute to the generation in which we live."

  • Shanta Acharya, Modern Poetry in Translation

    "Satchidanandan’s poetry is an irresistible mix of the real, surreal, intellectual, sensual, and spiritual. Satchidanandan does not shy away from asking deeper existential questions -of being, freedom, love, compassion, nature, language and death "

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