Vayalar Award for Benyamin

Thiruvananthapuram: Celebrated writer Benyamin has bagged the Vayalar Award for his literary work, Manthalirile 20 Communist Varshangal.

The Award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a bronze sculpture by Kanayi Kunhiraman, will be presented at a function in Thiruvananthapuram on October 27.

While Benyamin is no stranger to awards, he is certain to treasure this which adorns the desk of Kerala's finest writers.

Previous winners of the Award include ONV Kurup (1982), MT Vasudevan Nair (1985), Sukumar Azhikode (1989), OV Vijayan (1991), Madhavikutty (1997), M Mukundan (2003), KR Meera (2014) among others.

Last year, the Award was bagged by Ezhacherry Ramachandran for his work Oru Virginian Veyilkaalam, and in 2019, by VJ James for Nireeshwaran.

Instituted in 1977 by the Vayalar Rama Varma Memorial Trust in memory of the poet and lyricist Vayalar Rama Varma, the Award celebrates the best literary work in Malayalam.

It is presented annually on October 27, the death anniversary of Vayalar Rama Varma.

Benyamin rose to fame with the publication of his much-lauded work Aadujeevitham which portrays the life of an Indian labourer in Saudi Arabia.

It is included in the curriculum of Kerala University, Calicut University, and the 10th standard of the Kerala State Syllabus.

His work Jasmine Days, translated into English by Shahnaz Habib, won the inaugural JCB Prize for Literature, the richest award for a literary work in the subcontinent.

Benyamin is also the recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (2009 - for Aadujeevitham), the Crossword Book Award (2019 - Jasmine Days), among others. 

This year's jury included writer KR Meera, Dr George Onakkoor, and Dr C Unnikrishnan.