Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

K. Satchidanandan

            

                               K. Satchidanandan with Gabriel Rosenstock

 

 

K.Satchidanandan is a Malayalam poet, essayist and translator and a bilingual critic and editor. He has a doctorate in post-structuralist poetics and was Professor of English at Christ College, University of Calicut, Kerala, editor of Indian Literature, the journal of the Sahitya Akademi(The National Academy of Letters) and later the Chief Executive of the Akademi. He then worked as a Language Policy Consultant for the Govt of India and has been associated, as editor, with Katha, Delhi and the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature. He edits the poetry quarterly Kerala Kavita in Malayalam and the series of translations from South Asian literature, The South Asian Library of Literature in English . He retired in 2011 as Director and Professor, School of Translation Studies and Training, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi. He is also on the Project Advisory Board of Indian Literature Abroad, and the National Executive of the National Translation Mission ,both Govt of India initiatives and is currently Member, Executive Board, Sahitya Akademi besides being on the academic/governing bodies of JNU, (Delhi)Ambedkar University(Delhi), Malayalam University(Kerala) and has been on the Ph.D .Board of four universities.

He has 22 collections of poetry in Malayalam, 16 collections of world poetry in translation, four plays, three books of travel and 23 collections of critical essays and interviews besides four collections of essays in English. He has edited several anthologies of poetry and prose in Malayalam, English and Hindi. He has 27 collections of his poems in translation in 17 languages, including five collections in English, six in Hindi and one each in Irish , Arabic, German, French and Italian besides all the major Indian languages. He has won 22 awards for his literary contribution including Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award,( Kolkata) Gangadhar Meher Award( Orissa), Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (5 times), Kumaran Asan Award ( Chennai),Bapureddy National Award, NTRamaRao award ( Hyderabad) Kuvempu Samman ( Karnataka), Kerala Varma Award, Ulloor Award, P. Kunhiraman Nair Award, Odakkuzhal Award, Vayalar Award, SBT award, Padmaprabha Award ( Kerala), Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan Award, (Kuwait), Baharain Keraleeya Samajam Award ( Bahrain), Oman Kerala Cultural Centre Award ( Muscat), Kamala Surayya Award ( Dubai), Kusumagraj National Award (Maharashtra), Sahitya Akademi Award for Malayalam, Green India Excellence Award etc. besides Sahityasree from the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Delhi, Senior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, Government of India, Sreekant Verma Fellowship from the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the K.K.Birla Fellowship for Comparative Literature. He is a Fellow of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. Many of his books of poetry and criticism have been textbooks in Universities. A film on him, Summer Rain was released in 2007.

Satchidanandan has represented India in several international literary events like the international literary festivals in Sarajevo, Berlin, Montreal, Beijing, Moscow, Ivry-sur Seine, Rotterdam, Jaipur, Delhi, Hay Festival-Trivandrum, Medellin International Poetry Festival in Colombia, and book fairs at Delhi, Lahore, Kolkata, Abu Dhabi, Frankfurt, Leipzig, London, Paris and Moscow. He has also read and talked at Bonn, Rome, Verona, Ravenna, Leiden, NewYork, St.Petersburg, Damascus, Aberystwyth, Manchester, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Sharjah, Singapore, Colombia, Cuba, Peru etc. besides most of the cities in India. Satchidanandan has been honoured with Knighthood of the Order of Merit by the Government of Italy, with the Dante Medal by the Dante Institute, Ravenna and the India-Poland Friendship Medal by the Government of Poland. He has also been an activist for secularism, environment and human rights.

Address: K. Satchidanandan, 7 C, Neethi Apartments, 84, I. P. Extension, Delhi-110 092, India. Phone: 0091-11-222 46 240; Mob. (091-11-)9868232794;

email: satchida(at)gmail.com

website: http://satchidanandan.com

 

 

 

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