Poet K G Sankara Pilla wins prestigious Ezhuthachan Award

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Eminent Malayalam poet and literary critic K G Sankara Pilla was selected for this year’s prestigious Ezhuthachan award. This is the highest literary honour given by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Government of Kerala.

The award was announced by Culture Minister Saji Cherian. The award was selected by a committee comprising NS Madhavan as chairman, KR Meera and Dr KM Anil as members, and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Secretary Prof. CP Aboobacker as member secretary. The award comes with a cash prize of Rs. five lakhs, a citation and a statue.

The Minister extolled Sankara Pillai's poetry as a strong presence for the last 50 years through different avenues of expression, and said that Malayalees can take pride in it. Sankara Pillai expressed contentment, saying that the award was rather a recognition of his strong stance taken in life.

K G Sankara Pilla was born in Chavara, Kollam district. He rose to prominence with his poem 'Bengal', published in 1970. He worked as a teacher in the Malayalam department in various colleges. He also served as a principal at Maharaja's College, Ernakulam. Pilla was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1998. The veteran also received the Central government’s Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002. He was made a distinguished member of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi in 2019.