THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ONV was a poet who always conveyed the emotion of ‘dilemma’ in his poems, Veteran writer and Jnanpith laureate M T Vasudevan Nair has said. He was speaking after receiving the second ONV literary award instituted in memory of iconic poet late O N V Kurup for his overall contributions to Malayalam literature. The award was presented by veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan. The first award was presented to the veteran poetess D Sugathakumari last year.
“The poems which have the essence of dilemma lasted for years. ONV was one such kind of a poet who conveyed the emotions all throughout his poems which are even relevant nowadays. I had a long association with ONV. In fact, he had corrected me sometimes to improve my literary works. Besides, ONV’s drama songs had influenced my youth days. Though I am receiving an award of ONV, it is a time of lost friendship,” Nair said.
Writer and author C Radhakrishnan who was the chief guest of the function said in his keynote address ONV was living in the hearts of the people in Kerala even after his death. “The man can’t evolve much without the support and influence of art. So, ONV is one such man who contributed his life to evolve in the man intellectually,” he said. He also recited a part of a poem’ Nakshatrageetham’ written by late poet G Sankarakurup, saying a true voice is heard once in a lifetime. ONV’s was one such, Radhakrishnan added.
He also hailed the contribution of M T Vasudevan Nair by making his stories like poems. Anuja Akathoottu, a young poetess, received the young writer award for her anthology collection, ‘Amma Urangunnilla’. The award for MT, comprising a cash prize of Rs three lakh, citation and a plaque, was instituted by the ONV Cultural Academy. He was selected by a jury comprising critic M M Basheer, K Jayakumar and poet Prabhavarma.