is a poet of national and international repute writing in Malayalam.He was Professor of English at Christ College,University of Calicut, Kerala, editor of Indian Literature, the journal of the Sahitya Akademi(The National Academy of Letters) and later its Chief Executive. He has 21 collections of poetry in Malayalam besides 16 collections of world poetry in translation and 23 collections of critical essays and interviews besides three collections of essays in English and several works in Malayalam, English and Hindi edited by him.He has 27 collections of poems in 17 languages, including five collections in English, six in Hindi, two in Urdu and one each in Arabic, German, French and Italian besides Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Gujarati,Punjabi,Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu etc.He has won 21 awards for his literary contribution including Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award,( Kolkata) Gangadhar Meher Award( Sambalpur, Orissa), Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (4 times), Kumaran Asan Award ( Chennai),Bapureddy National Award ( Hyderabad) Kerala Varma Award, Ulloor Award, P. Kunhiraman Nair Award, Odakkuzhal Award, Vayalar Award, Beharain Keraleeya Samajam Award, Oman Cultural Centre Award etc. besides Sahityasree from th HindiSahitya Sammelan, Delhi, Senior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, Government of India and Sreekant Verma Fellowship from the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Many of his poems and books of poetry and criticism have been textbooks in Universities. A film on him, Summer Rain was released in 2007. He has represented India or read and lectured in several international literary events in Berlin, Bonn, Frankfurt, Leipzeg, Paris, Rome, Verona, Ravenna, Leiden, NewYork, Beijing, Moscow, Damascus, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman, Sharjah, Singapore, Lahore etc and has been honoured with Knighthood by the Government of Italy, Dante Medal from the Dante Institute, Ravenna and won the India-Poland Friendship Medal from the Government of Poland. He is currently Editor, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.