Omana Gopalakrishnan

Omana Gopalakrishnan Biography

Omana Gopalakrishnan was an Indian writer of Malayalam language, best known for translation works. She along with her husband Moscow Gopalakrishnan translated numerous Russian books into Malayalam language. Most of the works belong to children’s literature genre, and are quite popular. They translated nearly 200 books into Malayalam. While K Gopalakrishnan translated around 80 works to Malayalam, Omana translated 40 children’s books and 16 other fictions. Both were employees of Soviet Information Centre in New Delhi. Moscow Gopalakrishnan lived during the period, 1930 – 2011, and Omana during 1936-2003.

Omana also known as Bharathi Amma was born on 26 April 1936 in Ettumanur, Kottayam district. She later married K Gopalakrishnan Nayar, best known as Moscow Gopalakrishnan 6 years senior to her. The translation work of the couple started in year 1966, when they were invited to Progress Printers in Moscow for a two-year project. A Malayalam division was being set up and the publishers needed skilled people to translate Russian works to Malayalam. Thus the couple along with two kids reached Moscow and started off their work. The Ant and the Cosmonaut, The White Deer and Anna Karenina are among her translation works.

The couple hired a tutor to train them in Russian language. They mainly worked on Children’s literature, and the idea clicked also. First of their works were rolled off at a press that was imported from England. Later Progress Publishers later set up the RADUGA division, and dedicated it to couple for their translation works. The family lived in Moscow for 25 years and returned to India in 1991. Later they lived on a pension from the Russian government. Omana died in 2003 while her husband lived 8 more years in Thiruvananthapuram.

Published: January 05, 2020

Updated: January 05, 2020