Payyannur Kunhiraman also spelled as Payyannur Kunjiraman is an Indian Malayalam language writer, translator and orator from Kerala. He received several awards including the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kerala State Institute of Children's Literature and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions.
Biography Kunhiraman was born in 1946 in Payyannur in present-day Kannur district of Kerala to Kallidil Kannapothuval and Ramanath Parvathyamma. His father was knowledgeable in traditional medicine. Following a dispute with the head of the family, his parents left their ancestral home with their five children and moved to Karkala in Karnataka and subsequently lived in a rented house there. Kannapothuval, who knew traditional medicine, was unable to meet the family's expenses with the income he earned from selling his medicine, so he sent his two eldest sons to work. The eldest son then learned to make beedi and Kunhiraman learned to spin yarn. Even though his formal education was interrupted, Kunhiraman spent his free time learning Kannada with the help of children from neighbouring households.
Later, after returning to Payyannur he too entered the beedi making profession. He learned making beedi from Gopalan in Mavicheri and started his career as one of the hundreds of beedi workers. The main entertainment of beedi workers that time was reading newspapers and listening to the radio. As a young beedi worker, Kunhiraman regularly read newspapers and literary works aloud to other workers. His reading introduced him to the works of Malayalam writers including Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai and P. Kesavadev. A former schoolmate, Ramaswamy, encouraged him to continue his education privately. Kunhiraman subsequently completed his secondary education through private study.
He then pursued further studies and completed the L.T.T.C. course at a training institute in Kozhikode, financing his education partly through private tuition. After completing the course, he joined Moothedath High School in Taliparamba as a Hindi teacher.
Personal life Kunhiraman and his wife Satyabhama A. K. have two children, Sbitha and Sooraj.
Literary career Kunhiraman's interest in translation developed after he read Chirasmarane, a Kannada work by Niranjana about the Kayyur uprising. He subsequently corresponded with Niranjana and began translating works by Niranjana and his wife Anupama Niranjana into Malayalam. His translations included works such as Rangammayude Vatakapparambu, Mrityunjayan, Kaveri Ente Raktham, Banashankari, Minnal and Niranjanayude Kathakal, as well as Anupama's Ghosham and Cheriyude Vilapam.
As of 2025, Kunhiraman had written about 100 books, approximately half of them are translations. He had translated 28 books from Kannada into Malayalam including works by Kannada writers Niranjana, Anupama, P. V. Narayana, Srikrishna Alanahalli and Banu Mushtaq.
Kunhiraman is a member of the state committee of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham.
Selected works
Biographies Biography of Kannada novelist Niranjana Biography of P. Govinda Pillai. Biographies of Malayalam triumvirate poets Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer. Biography and personal memoirs on P. Padmanabhan. Biography of E. K. Nayanar for children. Biography of M. M. Kalburgi. Biography of P. Krishna Pillai. Biography of G. Sankara Kurup for children. Biography of S. K. Pottekkatt for children. Biography of Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai for children. Biography of T. Padmanabhan. Biography of Mahatma Gandhi. Biography of A. K. Gopalan for children. Biography of E. M. S. Namboodiripad for children.
Biography of EMS for children. Biography of A. K. Gopalan for children.
History and culture A book that chronicles the early struggles and the growth of the Communist Party in Kerala. A book on Salt March. A children's literature work on famous events in the history of the Indian freedom struggle, such as the Wagon tragedy, the Salt March, the Guruvayur Satyagraha, the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising, and the Kayyur uprising. Essays and studies on Theyyam. 13 folklore stories of Theyyam.
Political history. Book on theyyams of North Kerala. Political history. Political history.
Children's literature
Translations A Malayalam translation of the Kannada novel written by Niranjana A Malayalam translation of the Kannada novel written by Niranjana, based on the life of Swami Aparampara, who died fighting against British imperialism. A Malayalam translation of the Kannada novel written by Niranjana. Malayalam translation of biography of HIV activist Veenadhari originally written in English. Malayalam translation of work of Kannada writer P. V. Narayana. Malayalam translation of work of oriya writer Krushna Prasad Mishra. Malayalam translation of stories by Niranjana. Malayalam translation of Kannada fiction by Anupama Niranjana. Malayalam translation of Kannada fiction by Bharathi Sudha. Malayalam translation of Kannada fiction by Srikrishna Alanahalli. Malayalam translation of Kannada fiction by Niranjana. Malayalam translation of Kannada fiction by Niranjana. Malayalam translation of Kannada stories by Mushtaq Banu. Malayalam translation of Kannada fiction by Anupama Niranjana.
Travelogue
Autobiography
Awards and honours Payyannur Kunhiraman received the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award in 2005. In 2020, he received the Bharat Bhavan Vivarthana Ratna Award for his translation of Banu Mushtaq's Novelettes into Malayalam. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kerala State Institute of Children's Literature in 2023. In 2025 he received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions for the year 2024.
References