Mr. Chemmanam Chacko

An acclaimed Malayalam poet and writer known for his books,humorous essays and several poems of satire and humor including collection of poems for children. Mr. Chacko was born on March 7, 1926 in the village of Mulakulam in Travancore. His father was a Christian priest. He did his early schooling in Saint Joseph’s school, Piravom and went on to receive his BA honors in Malayalam literature with first rank from University College, Trivandrum.

He worked as a professor at Mar Ivanios College and the Department of Malayalam, University of Kerala.Chacko’s first published poem was ‘Munnottu’ (Forward) which appeared in a local weekly in 1946. The poem “Kanakaaksharangal” published in 1967 brought him popularity. Chemmanam is famed for efficiently utilising satire in his poems as a means of social and political critique. His poetic style has often drawn comparison to the early Malayalam language Kunjan Nambiar.

His 1977 poetry collection Rajapatha won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. He was conferred with the lifetime achievement award to literature by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi in 2006.