C. V. Balakrishnan (born 24 September 1952) is an Indian writer ofMalayalam literature.[1] His novels and short stories encompass the emotional issues related to mass culture, sexual politics, fate of the marginalised and institutionalised religions. An author of more than 60 literary works along with a few film scripts and film criticisms, his best known work is the novelAyussinte Pusthakam (The Book of Passing Shadows).[2] He received theKerala Sahitya Akademi Award thrice[3] and theKerala State Film Award for Best Book on Cinema in 2002 forCinemayude Idangal. In 2014, he won thePadmaprabha Literary Award.[4][5]
Balakrishnan was born inPayyannur,Kannur district,Kerala.[6] After completing his school education, he took training in teaching and worked in various schools before shifting toCalcutta in 1979 where he worked as a freelance journalist. It was in Calcutta he began writingAyussinte Pusthakam.
Ayussinte Pusthakam is considered one of the major works in the post-modernist Malayalam literature. Balakrishnan began writing this novel when he moved toCalcutta in late-1970s. An old edition ofthe Bible at St. Paul's Cathedral in Calcutta triggered the book in him. It took him three years to complete the novel. Says the author: "All the characters and villages of Christian settlers were in my mind long before I began thinking about writingAyussinte Pusthakam. The characters are based on people I met during my course as a school teacher in a village in Kasaragod. I wroteAyussinte Pusthakam at a time when I was going through an emotionally difficult period; my relation with my father was strained and I was feeling very lonely.Ayussinte Pusthakam is about loneliness." The book is also about sin and sadness, written in a style and language that have been judiciously borrowed from The Bible."[7]The novel was successfully adapted for the stage bysuveeran in 2008. It won manyKerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Awards including one for the best play.
