K. M. Tharakan

K. M. Tharakan was born on 6 October 1930 at Puthencavu, the son of Mariamma and Mahakavi Puthencavu Mathan Tharakan.{{cite web|title=K M Tharakan|url=http://www.puzha.com/malayalam/bookstore/cgi-bin/author-detail.cgi?code=529|work=Profile|publisher=Puzha Books|access-date=28 July 2013|location=India|language=Malayalam|archive-date=2 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902022859/http://www.puzha.com/malayalam/bookstore/cgi-bin/author-detail.cgi?code=529|url-status=dead}} He was married to Rachel Tharakan. He had two sons and two daughters.

In 1946, he completed his SSLC in English medium from the Chengannur English High School. He obtained his Master of Arts degree in Literature from the Banaras Hindu University. After his MA he continued with his studies in Religion & Culture at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.{{cite web|title=കെ.എം. തരകന്‍ അന്തരിച്ചു|url=http://malayalam.oneindia.in/news/2003/07/16/ker-tharakan.html|publisher=One India|access-date=27 July 2013|language=Malayalam|date=16 July 2003}}

Tharakan worked as a lecturer at St. Albert's College from 1952 to 1959.{{cite web|title=Alumni|url=http://www.alberts.ac.in/alumni.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041210072551/http://www.alberts.ac.in/alumni.htm|archive-date=10 December 2004|publisher=St. Albert's College|access-date=26 July 2013}} From 1959 to 1979, he worked at Mar Athanasius College of Arts, Kothamangalam, retiring in 1980 as the department head.{{cite web|title=English Department|url=http://www.macollege.in/php/showDept.php?deptid=10|publisher=Mar Athanasius College of Arts|access-date=26 July 2013}} He was appointed as the editor of the Malayala Manorama Weekly in 1979 and also served as the editor of Bhashaposhini. In 1991 he was appointed as the President of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.{{cite book|title=Development/Digression Diary of India – 3rd Companion volume to Information India|year=1993|publisher=Concept Publishing Co.|location=New Delhi|isbn=81-7022-305-9|page=34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ltoaVsL8f8cC|author=S P Agrawal|edition=First|chapter=Awards}}

He authored over 50 books and various literary critiques and articles. He also translated many Malayalam works into English. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Mahatma Gandhi University in 1995 for his thesis, Theory of Synaesthesis in the Perspective of Rasa Sidantha.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |title=Theory of Synaesthests in the Perspective of Rasa Siddhanta. (Synaesthesis and Santa Rasa) |publisher=Mahatma Gandhi University |author=K M Tharakan |date=November 1995|hdl=10603/644 |hdl-access=free |via=Shodhganga}}

Among other awards, he was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award in 1975 for his work Paschathya Sahitya Thatwasastram, a literary criticism.{{cite web|title=List of winners from 1966–2003|url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/ksa/Awards/Criticism_Studies.htm|publisher=Kerala Sahitya Akademi|access-date=26 July 2013|language=Malayalam}}

K. M. Tharakan died on 16 July 2003, at a private hospital in Tiruvalla after a prolonged illness.{{cite news|title=Literary critic K M Tharakan dies|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/Literary-critic-K-M-Tharakan-dies/articleshow/77974.cms|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130729174828/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2003-07-16/thiruvananthapuram/27210461_1_literary-profound-grief-eminent-writer|archive-date=29 July 2013|access-date=26 July 2013|date=16 July 2003|agency=PTI|newspaper=The Times of India|url-status=live|location=Pathanamthitta}} He was buried at St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral in Puthencavu.

The K. M. Tharakan Foundation was set up in 1990 in his honour. The foundation awards the Aacharya Award, which carries a citation and a cash prize of US$100. The award is given to individuals who make significant contributions in the fields of society, culture and education.{{cite web|title=Award to TK Thomas|url=http://cca.org.hk/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/00-12.pdf|work=CCA News|publisher=Christian Conference of Asia|page=34|date=December 2000|access-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819223431/http://cca.org.hk/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/00-12.pdf|archive-date=19 August 2014}} Winners of the Aacharya Award include Cyriac Thomas, D. Babu Paul{{cite web|title=Dr.Babu Paul has been awarded Dr. K. M. Tharakan Foundation "Achaarya" Award|url=http://www.malankarasyriacvoice.com/2011/October2011Archives.htm|publisher=Malankara Syriac Voice|access-date=27 July 2013|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130729174746/http://www.malankarasyriacvoice.com/2011/October2011Archives.htm|archive-date=29 July 2013}} and Fr. V. M. Varghese Kallooparambil.{{cite web|title=Acharya award for Fr Varghese Kalloparambil|url=http://soc.culture.indian.kerala.narkive.com/lCRZ9iKB/why-only-acharya-why-not-sainthood|access-date=27 July 2013}}

• Tarangini (1970){{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Indian Literature: sassay to zorgot|year=1992|isbn=81-260-1221-8|page=4325|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&q=Encyclopedia+of+Indian+Literature|author=Sahitya Akademi|publisher=Sahitya Akademi |edition=First -reprinted 2001|editor=Mohan Lal|access-date=27 July 2013|format=Book}}
• Pattu novalukal (1970)
• Atyadhinika sahityam (1971)
• Adhhunikha sahityadarshanam (1980)
• Nobel Sammanrhar (1981)
• Moral foundations of the Indian civilisation{{cite book|title=Moral foundations of the Indian civilization|year=1990|publisher=India Peace center|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8w7MwEACAAJ}}
• Western and Eastern Poetics: A Comparative Study of Reader Response in I. A. Richards and Abhinavagupta{{cite book|title=Western and Eastern Poetics|year=1999|publisher=Sangam Books Limited|location=India|isbn=978-0-86132-383-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3fRdPwAACAAJ}}

• Avalannu bharya {{cite web|title=Avalanu Bharya|url=http://hebbalorthodoxchurch.com/book/avalanu-bharya|access-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042309/http://hebbalorthodoxchurch.com/book/avalanu-bharya|archive-date=4 March 2016}}
• Ninakkayi mathram
• Ormakalude rathri
• Athmavil sugandham
• Ennil aliyunna dukham

• M P Paul (1999){{cite web|title=Biography Archives|url=http://www.keralahistory.ac.in/2010%20pdf/list_biographies.pdf|work=List of biographies in KCHR archives|publisher=Kerala Council for Historic Research|access-date=27 July 2013|location=Kerala|archive-date=10 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910105114/http://www.keralahistory.ac.in/2010%20pdf/list_biographies.pdf|url-status=dead}}
• O Chanthumenon (1994)
• K C Mammen Mappilai – Portrait of KC Mammen Mappilai (1998)
• Kesava Dev – Thoolika padavaalakiya Kesava Dev (1986)
• Anugraheethanaya Basheer (1989){{cite book|title=Anugraheethanaya Basheer|year=1989|publisher=Janata Services|location=Cochin|isbn=978-81-87649-52-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1atscCEQ74C&q=%22K+M+Tharakan%22&pg=PT177}}

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Category:Malayali people

Category:1930 births

Category:2003 deaths

Category:Writers from Alappuzha

Category:Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala alumni

Category:Banaras Hindu University alumni

Category:Indian male novelists

Category:Malayalam-language novelists

Category:Indian literary critics

Category:20th-century Indian writers

Category:People from Thiruvalla

Category:Tharakan titleholders