THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noted poet Paloor Madhavan Namboothiri, better known as M N Paloor, passed away on Tuesday at his residence in Kovoor. He was 68. He is one of the early modernist poets in Malayalam and he is a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, the state's highest literary honour, in 1983 for his collection Kalikalam. He also received the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for his autobiography Kathayillathavante Katha in 2013.

He was born as the son of Palooru Manakkal Madhavan Namboothiri and Sreedevi Antharjanam on 22 June 1932 in Paravoor, Ernakulam. Hailing from a very conservative Namboothiri family, he learned Sanskrit under scholar K. P. Narayana Pisharody at an early age. He also had the opportunity to learn Kathakali at Kerala Kalamandalam under Pattikkanthodi Ravunny Menon and Vazhenkada Kunju Nair. He is not formally educated.

Paloor is the author of some of the finest Malayalam poems of the latter half of the 20th century. His major collections are Kalikalam, Pedithondan, Theerthayathra, Bhangiyum Abhangiyum, Sangamasangeetham, Pachamanga and Sarga Dhara. He is also the recipient of  Asan Memorial Poetry Prize in 2009.