Malayattoor Ramakrishnan

Malayattoor Ramakrishnan Biography

Malayattoor Ramakrishnan was a prominent author and cartoonist from Kerala. He was also a practicing lawyer and an IAS officer, holding many decorative positions. Yanthram, Verukal, Ponni, Yakshi and Service Story are his most famous works and many of his novels were made great films on Malayalam silver screen. His best known work is Verukal published in 1965 which was a semi-autobiographical work based on a Tamil speaking Iyer famliy settled in Kerala. The book won him Kerala Sahithya Academy Award. He resigned from IAS in 1981 so that he could completely dedicate his time to literal world. Iyer the Great, Yakshi, Chemparathi and Ponni are the movies based on his works. He is the first Malayalam writer to translate the classic work – Dracula. Sherlock Homes can also be included in his translation works.

Malayattoor Ramakrishnan was born on 27 May 1927 in Kalpathi in Palakkad. His real name is K. V. Ramakrishna Iyer, born to an Iyer family settled in Kerala. His family lived in Thottuva village of Cheranalloor East. ‘Malayattoor ‘ is his native place. After primary education from Ernakulam at various schools, he completed graduation and LLB from Thiruvananthapuram. He started writing and cartooning during college days and was a left sympathizer too. He had brief stint in politics. Though he contested Assembly elections from Perumbavur as a Left candidate, he couldn’t make it.

After LLB, he started his career as an Advocate. He was instrumental in starting Chithrakala Parishad in 1952. After his loss in Assembly elections, he became sub-editor in The Free Press Journal in Mumbai and also contributed as a cartoonist for Shankar's Weekly. He entered the Kerala judicial service in 1954 and served as a magistrate till he joined IAS in 1957. During his tenure, he has served as Kozhikode District Collector and sub-collector of Devikulam, Thrissur, Ottapalam, and Alappuzha.

Published: N/A

Updated: April 16, 2014