The office-bearers of the Vidwan T P Ramakrishna Pillai Foundation declared its annual awards on Monday. The award for 2012 went to engineer turned historian K Sivasankaran Nair, who has written more than a dozen books on Kerala History.
The award for 2013 went to Government Women’s College former principal B Hridayakumari for her translation of books on Vallathol and two volumes of autobiographical writing. The awards carry a prize money of Rs 5,001 each, besides a memento and shawl.
Cultural Affairs Minister K C Joseph will inaugurate the meeting to be held at Press Club on April 4. The meeting will be presided over by former Chief Secretary R Ramachandran Nair. Poet Sugathakumari, who has won the Saraswathy Samman and Palkulangara Ambikadevi, winner of the Sangeetha Bharat award, will be honoured by the Minister.
The function will be held as part of the 109th birthday of Vidwan T P Ramakrishna Pillai, who was a short writer, novelist, translator of the works of Maupassant, Voltaire and Anatole France into Malayalam and a founder director of Sree Ramakrishna Ashram and orphanage at Alwaye during the period 1967-1992.
Dr Puthussery Ramachandran, Dr Poojappura Krishnan Nair, J Gourikutty Amma and Malayinkil Gopalakrishnan will speak on the occasion. The Minister will also release the Kannada translation made by Dr M Rama of ‘Velu Thampi and Freedom Movement’ written by Dr T P Sankarankutty Nair, secretary of the Foundation.