Narayan (writer)

{{Short description|Indian author (1940–2022)}} {{Distinguish|R. K. Narayan}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Narayan | image = Narayan DSW.JPG | image_size = | alt = | caption = Narayan in 2013 | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1940|09|26}} | birth_place = Kadayathoor Hills, Idukki, Travancore, British India | death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|08|16|1940|09|26|df=yes}} | death_place = Kochi, Kerala, India | resting_place = | occupation = Writer | language = Malayalam | nationality = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = Novel, short story | subject = Tribal communities of Kerala | movement = | notableworks = ''Kocharethi'' | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1999) * Economist Crossword Book Award (2011) }} | signature = | signature_alt = | website =  | portaldisp = }}

'''Narayan''' (26 September 1940 – 16 August 2022) was an Indian author best known for his debut novel ''Kocharethi'' (1998). Most of Narayan's novels deal with the lives of the tribal communities of Kerala. He belonged to the Malayarayar tribe and is considered Kerala's first tribal novelist.

==Early life== Narayan who was born in 1940 in Kudayathur, Idukki district, belonged to the tribe called Malayarayar. After completing his schooling from a local government school, he got a job in the postal service.

==Literary career== {{Quote box|width=35%|align=left|Circumstances. When I joined school the system of providing free rice gruel at noon hadn't started. Education was not free. Right until Independence, the school fee was a chakram per annum. I went without food at noon. One day someone said that if I remained in the class room when others left for lunch and something went missing, I would be blamed. This frightened me so I began to visit the reading room opposite our school. There were three or four newspapers, a few books and a periodical. Soon the owner began to leave me in charge of the place when he went for lunch. I used the time to read whatever I could get hold of.|source=—Narayan when asked what had triggered his interest in books.<ref name="The Hindu Kocharethi"/>}}

Narayan started his literary career by writing a few short stories, which were published in periodicals. The writing did not attract the attention of readers but it did attract attention of the negative sort: of his immediate superior.<ref name="The Hindu Kocharethi">{{Cite news |title=Of a people in transition |author=Catherine Thankamma |newspaper=The Hindu |date=16 August 2009 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/books/article3675.ece |access-date=29 June 2013}}</ref> With the publication of his debut novel ''Kocharethi'' in 1998, Narayan became Kerala's first tribal novelist.<ref name=OxfordUnivPress>{{Cite web |title=Kocharethi The Arayar Woman |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198070474.do#.Uc8XSpyU4rU |access-date=29 June 2013}}</ref> The novel, through the lives of its protagonist Kunjipennu and her childhood love and later husband, Kochuraman, depicts the history, traditions and travails of the Malayarayar tribal community in Kerala in the twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Cultures in transformation|url=http://www.hindu.com/lr/2011/04/03/stories/2011040350020100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108090822/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2011/04/03/stories/2011040350020100.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 January 2014|access-date=29 June 2013|newspaper=The Hindu|date=3 April 2011}}</ref> While Narayan completed the manuscript of the novel in 1988, it was published only ten years later by the DC Books.<ref name=translation>{{Cite news|title=Found in translation|url=http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article1772998.ece|access-date=29 June 2013|newspaper=The Hindu|date=27 April 2011}}</ref> The novel was critically acclaimed and went on to win the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. Its English translation as ''Kocharethi: The Araya Woman'' by Catherine Thankamma was published by the Oxford University Press in 2011 and won the Economist Crossword Book Award in the Indian language translation category for 2011.<ref name=OxfordUnivPress/><ref name=Goesplaces>{{Cite news |title=Narayan honoured as Kocharethi goes places |newspaper=The Hindu |date=19 November 2012 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/narayan-honoured-as-kocharethi-goes-places/article4111023.ece |access-date=29 June 2013}}</ref>

==Awards and recognitions== ''Kocharethi'' was given the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in the Novel category for the year 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|title=List of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award Winners|url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/ml_aw3.htm|publisher=Kerala Sahitya Akademi|access-date=29 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924045103/http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/ml_aw3.htm|archive-date=24 September 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The novel's English translation by Catherine Thankamma won the Economist Crossword Book Award in 2011.<ref name=Goesplaces/><ref>{{Cite news|title=A tribal community comes alive|url=http://newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/article1322246.ece?service=print|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108093712/http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/article1322246.ece?service=print|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 January 2014|access-date=29 June 2013|newspaper=The New Indian Express|date=1 November 2012}}</ref> Narayan is also a recipient of many other awards including Thoppil Ravi Award and Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award.

''Kocharethi'' has run into six editions in Malayalam and has been translated into Hindi as ''Pahadin'' and into all the south Indian languages.<ref name=translation/> A French translation of the novel is also in progress.<ref>{{Cite news|title=French version of Kocharethi soon|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-03/kozhikode/31555951_1_tribal-communities-novel-tribal-people|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108090853/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-03/kozhikode/31555951_1_tribal-communities-novel-tribal-people|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 January 2014|access-date=29 June 2013|newspaper=The Times of India|date=3 May 2012}}</ref>

== Death == Narayan died following COVID-19-related complications on 16 August 2022, at the age of 81.<ref>{{Cite news |author= Special Correspondent |date=2022-08-16 |title=Writer Narayan passes away |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/writer-narayan-passes-away/article65776007.ece |access-date=2022-08-17 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==Works== '''Novels''' *''Kocharethi'' – (1998) *''Ooralikkudi'' – (1999) *''Chengarum Kuttalum'' – (2001) *''Vandanam'' – (2003) *[https://www.bookmedia.in/tholkkunnavar-aaraanu-/pid-2012383207 ''Tholkkunnavar Aaraanur'' – (2006)] *''[https://www.bookmedia.in/ee-vazhiyil-aalereyilla-/pid-2012383209 Ee Vazhiyil Aalere Illa]'' – (2006) *''Thiraskrutharude Nalea'' – (2010) *''Manasum Dhehavum Kondu Njan Ninnea'' – (2010) *''[https://www.bookmedia.in/pennungal-paniyunna-nagaram-/pid-2012206408 Pennungal Paniyunna Nagaram]'' – (2016) *''[https://www.bookmedia.in/vannalakal-/pid-2012206409 Vannalakal]'' – (2016) *''[https://www.bookmedia.in/ee-vazhiyil-aalereyilla-/pid-2012383209 Ee Vazhiyil Aalereyilla]'' – (2016)

'''Short Story Collections''' *''Nissahayante Nilavili'' – (2006) *''Pela Marutha'' – (2006) *''Kadhakal Narayan'' – (2011) *''Narayante Theranjedutha Kadhakal'' – (2012) *''Narayante Kadhakal'' – (2013)

==List of awards== * Thoppil Ravi Foundation Award – (1999) * Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel – (1999, for ''Kocharethi'') * Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award – (1999, for ''Kocharethi'') *Swami Ananda Theertha Award – (2011) *Economist Crossword Book Award – (2011)

==References==

==External links== {{Commons category|Narayan (writer)}} * [http://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/article1020744.ece Excerpts from the OUP translation] * {{YouTube|il6A_2wSjRg|Oxford University Presents Kocharethi – The Araya Woman}} * [https://www.bookmedia.in/tribal-novel/cid-71208201-71208201 Narayan Books]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narayan}} Category:1940 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Malayali people Category:Malayalam-language novelists Category:Malayalam short story writers Category:Recipients of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award Category:20th-century Indian short story writers Category:Indian male novelists Category:Indian male short story writers Category:People from Idukki district Category:Novelists from Kerala Category:20th-century Indian novelists Category:20th-century Indian male writers Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India