K. B. Prasannakumar

For Karnataka politician, see K. B. Prasanna Kumar.

K. B. Prasannakumar
BornVembally near Kuravilangad, Kottayam District, Kerala
OccupationTranslator, literary critic
NationalityIndian
Notable awards

K. B. Prasannakumar is an Indian Malayalam language writer, literary critic and translator. In 2011, he won both Sahitya Akademi Award and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for translation. He received the Kerala State Institute of Children's Literature Thiruvananthapuram Book Fair Award for Literary Criticism in 2012 for his book Athijeevikkunna Vakku

Biogrphy

K. B. Prasannakumar is a native of Vembally near Kuravilangad in Kottayam district of Kerala.[1] His father is K.P. Bhaskara Kaimal and mother K. Thanka.[2] He studied at Kumaranalloor Devi Vilasam High School and Deva Matha College, Kuravilangad.[3] He graduated in Physics and obtained a postgraduate degree in Malayalam. He retired as an officer at State Bank of India.[1]

Prasannakumar and his wife Radhika, who is an employee in LIC, have one daughter.[1]

Literary contributions

Literary criticism

Prasannakumar became interested in literary criticism when he began serious reading in the early nineteen eighties.[4] Then he started writing literary criticism articles in the Samathalam magazine.[4] His first article was on P. Kunhiraman Nair's poem Kaliyachan. He then wrote many other articles in the eighties and nineties and wrote a book called Athijeevikkunna Vakku (Meanig: The Surviving Word).[4]

Travelogues

Prasannakumar, who has made several trips to the Himalayas, never intended to write a book about his travels, but he had written travel articles in local newspapers and magazines.[5] Later, DC Books commissioned him to edit a book on Himalayan travels, Himalayam: Kazhcha, Darshanam.[5] This was his first work on travel.[5] The other travel books he wrote include Uttarakhand: Himalaya Devabhoomi (Manorama Publication, 2009), an anthology of poems on travel titled Sanchi, Malakalile Kattu Parayaunnathu (Prabhatham Book House, 2010), Himavazhiyile buddha sanchaarangal (Mathrubhumi Books, 2013; 2018), Jalakkannady (Ivory publishing house , 2020) and Sivam panchakedaram (Mathrubhumi Books, 2012) a travelogue on Panch Kedar.[5][6]

Translations

Notes from the Himalayas is the collection of reminiscences of Ruskin Bond.[7] Prasannakumar translated this book for Mathrubhumi Books.[7] He translated Gao Xingjian's semi-autobiographical novel Soul Mountain into Malayalam as Athmashailam, Orhan Pamuk's Masumiyet Müzesi (The Museum of Innocence) as Nishkalankathayute Chithrasala, Dr. Salim Ali's autobiography The Fall of a Sparrow as Oru Kuruviyute Pathanam, and Mimlu Sen's Honey Gatherers as Bavul Jeevithavum Sangeethavum.[6] He translated Sudhir Kakar's work Meera and Mahatma into Malayalam as Meerayum Mahathmavum and Roberto Calasso's Ka into Malayalam with the same title.[8] He translated Gabriel García Márquez's My Melancholy Whores, a poetic novel, into Malayalam as Ente vishadaganikasmrithikal (D C books, 2022).[9][10] He translated The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor into Malayalam as Maha(bharatha)kadha.[11] In 2007, he translated Sophie's World (Norwegian: Sofies verden), by Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder into Malayalam as Sophiyude Lokam.[12]

Awards and honors

Prasannakumar received the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize from Sahitya Akademi Government of Indiafor translating Sudhir Kakar's work Meera and Mahatma into Malayalam as Meerayum Mahathmavum.[13] He also received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation from Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Government of Kerala for his translation of Roberto Calasso's Ka into Malayalam.[8] He received the Kerala State Institute of Children's Literature Thiruvananthapuram Book Fair Award for Literary Criticism in 2012 for his book Athijeevikkunna Vakku.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c "ഭൂർജ്ജവനങ്ങളിലെ അന്നം". darsana.in (in Malayalam). Archived from the original on 19 July 2025. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  2. ^ "കെ.ബി.പ്രസന്നകുമാർ - Sayahna". ml.sayahna.org. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  3. ^ "അതിരില്ലാ വായനസ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം തരും വീട്ടിലെ ലൈബ്രറി". Malayala Manorama (in Malayalam).
  4. ^ a b c പ്രസന്നകുമാര്‍, കെ ബി (18 May 2023). "'യാത്രയിലെ ഉള്‍ക്കാഴ്ചകളാണ് എഴുതാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കാറ്, അത് കവിതയുമായി ചേര്‍ന്നുനില്‍ക്കുന്നു, ഉള്ളിലൂടെ ഒരു ഗംഗ'". Samakalika Malayalam - The New Indian Express (in Malayalam). Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d "A very personal 'Himalayan' affair". The Hindu. 18 July 2010. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Prasannakumar, K. B. Kerala State Central Library catalog". catalogue.statelibrary.kerala.gov.in. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  7. ^ a b "ഞാനാദ്യം വായിക്കാൻ പഠിക്കുന്നത് അടിയിൽനിന്നു മുകളിലേക്കാണ്, അതിനുകാരണമോ ആ രാജകുമാരിമാരും!". Mathrubhumi. 22 May 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Benjamin Bailey Foundation". benjaminbaileyfoundation.org.
  9. ^ "എന്റെ വിഷാദഗണികാ സ്മൃതികൾ". എന്റെ വിഷാദഗണികാ സ്മൃതികൾ (in Malayalam).
  10. ^ "എന്റെ വിഷാദഗണികാ സ്മൃതികള്‍". KeralaBookStore.com (in Malayalam).
  11. ^ "Mahabharatha kadha". D C Books. 2000.
  12. ^ സോഫിയുടെ ലോകം.
  13. ^ "Kerala News - പ്രസന്നകുമാറിനും സുസേ്മഷ് ചന്ത്രോത്തിനും കേന്ദ്രസാഹിത്യ അക്കാദമി പുരസ്‌കാരം - India, World News - Mathrubhumi Newspaper Edition". www.mathrubhumi.com (in Malayalam). Archived from the original on 14 February 2012.
  14. ^ "പുസ്തകമേള – ksicl". ksicl.org.
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