Kamala Surayya

Kamala Surayya/Kamala Das/Kamala Madhavikutty was at March 31, 1934 Punnayurkulam, Thrissur. She was a major Indian English poet and litterateur. She is well known for her short stories and autobiography. Her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das.
    She spent her childhood between Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company that sold Bentley and Rolls Royce automobiles, and the Nalappatt ancestral home in Punnayurkulam.Like her mother, Balamani Amma, Kamala Das also excelled in writing. Her love of poetry began at an early age through the influence of her great uncle, Nalappatt Narayana Menon, a prominent writer.
    At the age of 15, she got married to bank officer Madhava Das, who encouraged her writing interests, and she started writing and publishing both in English and in Malayalam.At the age of 42, she published a daring autobiography, My Story; it was originally written in Malayalam "Ente Katha" and later she translated it into English.
   
Born              : March 31, 1934 Punnayurkulam, Thrissur
Died              : May 31, 2009 (aged 75) Pune
Occupation    : Poet, short story writer
Spouse(s)       : Madhava Das
Religion         : Islam
Genres          : Poetry, Short story

Works

English

• 1964: The Sirens (Asian Poetry Prize winner) 
• 1965: Summer in Calcutta (poetry; Kent's Award winner)
• 1967: The Descendants (poetry)
• 1973: The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (poetry)
• 1976: My Story (autobiography)
• 1977: Alphabet of Lust (novel)
• 1979: Tonight,This Savage Rite (with Pritish Nandy)
• 1985: The Anamalai Poems (poetry)
• 1992: Padmavati the Harlot and Other Stories (collection of short stories)
• 1996: Only the Soul Knows How to Sing (poetry)
• 1999: My Mother At Sixty-six (Poem)
• 2001: Yaa Allah (collection of poems)
• My Grandmother House (Poem)

Malayalam

• 1964: Pakshiyude Manam (short stories) 
• 1966: Naricheerukal Parakkumbol (short stories)
• 1968: Thanuppu (short story, Sahitya Academi award)
• 1973: "Ente Kadha" (Autobiography)
• 1982: Ente Katha (autobiography)
• 1987: Balyakala Smaranakal (Childhood Memories)
• 1989: Varshangalkku Mumbu (Years Before)
• 1990: Palayan (novel)
• 1991: Neypayasam (short story)
• 1992: Dayarikkurippukal (novel)
• 1994: Neermathalam Pootha Kalam (novel, Vayalar Award)
• 1996: Chekkerunna Pakshikal (short stories)
• 1998: Nashtapetta Neelambari (short stories)
• 1999: My Mother At Sixty-six (Poem)
• 2005: Chandana Marangal (Novel)
• 2005: Madhavikkuttiyude Unmakkadhakal (short stories)
• 2005: Vandikkalakal (novel)
• 2009: Snehathinte Swargavathilukal

Awards

• Nominated and shortlisted for Nobel Prize in 1984 
• Award of Asian PEN anthology - 1964
• Kerala Sahitya Academy Award - 1969
• Sahitya Academy Award - 1985
• Asian Poetry Prize - 1998
• Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries - 1999
• Vayalar Award - 2001
• Honorary D.Litt by University of Calicut - 2006
• Muttathu Varkey Award - 2006
• Ezhuthachan Puraskaram - 2009