Thrissur: Kerala’s great poet and Jnanpith laureate Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri passed away this morning. He was 94.
Akkitham was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Thrissur for age related ailments.
Akkitham’s literary works began to gain wide attention in the early 1950s and Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam (Epic of the 20th Century), a khandakavya is one of the first truly modernist poems in Malayalam literature, the book also won the Sanjayan Award in 1952.
The Government of Kerala awarded him Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, their highest literary award in 2016.He received Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the Government of India in 2017.
He received Jnanpith Award, the highest Indian literary award, in 2019.
