Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Doyen of new wave poetry

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: K. Ayyappa Panicker, who introduced modernist and post-modernist strains in Malayalam literature, is known as the doyen of new wave Malayalam poetry.

His poetic career, spanning over half a century, has left a profound influence on the cultural and intellectual life of the Malayali.

A widely- travelled scholar and academic, Dr. Panicker has won acclaim for his creative and intellectual genius. He has authored several collections of critical essays in Malayalam and English. He was awarded the Padmashree in 2004. He has also won the Kerala and Kendra Sahitya Akademi awards for criticism and poetry and the Saraswathi Samman in 2006.

Born at Kavalam in Alappuzha district on September 12, 1930, Dr. Panicker took his MA degree from Kerala University and MA and Ph.D. from Indiana University, U.S. His doctoral dissertation was on the poetry of Robert Lowell. He also did research work in Yale and Harvard.

Having taught English literature for 40 years in various colleges under the University of Kerala, he retired as Head, Institute of English, and Dean, Faculty of Arts. He has published four volumes of collected poetry (Ayyappa Panickarude Krutikal, Vols.I-IV) in Malayalam.

His collections of poems in English translation are: I Can't Help Blossoming (2003), Days and Nights (2000), Gotrayanam (1990), Selected Poems (1985) and Kurukshetram (1960).

He has left a lasting influence on modern Malayalam theatre. Playwrights like G. Sankara Pillai, Kavalam Narayana Panicker and Narendra Prasad, filmmakers like G. Aravindan and John Abraham and actors including Bharat Gopi and Nedumudi Venu have been influenced by his thinking.

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