Chittenippaattu Puthenveettil Surendran is an Indian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

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and

screenplay writer A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He writes in English and is based out of

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India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Early life and education

Surendran was born on 9 June 1958 in

Ottapalam Ottapalam (also spelled Ottappalam) is a town, taluk, and municipality in the Palakkad District of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ottapalam taluk and is located approximately 34 km (21 mi) from the Palakkad (district ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. His father,

Pavanan Puthan Veetil Narayanan Nair, fondly called and popularly known by his pen name Pavanan who was born on 26 October 1925 and died on 22 June 2006, was a well-known rationalist, literary critic and left wing political activist from Kerala, Ind ...

(a.k.a. Puthanveettil Narayanan Nair) was a pioneering rationalist, a

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

writer and an

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. His mother, Parvathy Pavanan (a.k.a. Chittenippaattu Puthenveettil Parvathy Amma), is an acclaimed author and a winner of the

Kerala Sahitya Academy Award Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award is given each year, since 1958, by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy), to Malayalam writers for their outstanding books of literary merit. The awards are given in various categories.

. After schooling in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the largest and ...

and

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, Surendran graduated from a college in

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

, and went on to receive his Master's in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

from

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

Career in journalism

Surendran had a brief stint as a teacher of English Literature at

Calicut University The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to be set up in no ...

in Kerala before moving to Mumbai in 1986 to work as a journalist, in the footsteps of his maternal uncle, the late C.P. Ramachandran. Surendran began his career in print media as a

with leading English newspapers including ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'', '' Times Sunday Review'' and ''

Bombay Times ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest selling English-language daily i ...

''. He was a resident editor of ''

'' in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

for three years from 2003 to 2006. He was the editor of '' Open Magazine'' in New Delhi from 2009 to 2012. He went on to serve as the senior editor with ''

'' in Delhi and later, as chief editor of '' Daily News and Analysis '' (a.k.a. DNA). He is currently a

contributing editor A contributing editor is a newspaper, magazine or online job title that varies in its responsibilities. Often, but not always, a contributing editor is a "high-end" freelancer, consultant, or expert who has proven ability and has readership dra ...

and ''

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'' with ''

Khaleej Times ''Khaleej Times'' is a daily English language newspaper published in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Launched on 16 April 1978, ''Khaleej Times'' is the UAE's longest-running English daily newspaper. History and profile A partnership between the U ...

''. He is a columnist for Indian and international papers like ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', ''

The Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter of K. K. Birla. ...

'', ''

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'', ''

'', and ''

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''. In 2018, a range of allegations of sexual harassment were leveled against him, with several women accusing him of making sexually colored remarks and suggestive comments. In the wake of the allegations, Surendran stepped down from his position on the board of directors of the Matrubhumi International Festival of Letters.

Poetry

Surendran's poems have been internationally anthologized, and he has received recognition for writing and journalism including Reuters International Fellowship at Oxford, Wolfson Press Fellowship at Cambridge and British Council Literature Fellowship at Cambridge. A selection of his poems was included in ''Gemini II'' (1994). His first independent collection was "Posthumous Poems." His other volumes of poetry include "Canaries on the Moon" (2002), "Portraits of the Space We Occupy" (2007) and "Available Light: New and Collected Poems"(2017) "Available Light" is a collection of 360 poems written over 25 years and includes new poems appended with those from his previous 4 volumes in poetry. Stark and often caustic, his poems reflect his preoccupation with love, death and loneliness. Home, I tell the man turning away in the mirror, My captive. Let him go? Cut my wrist and set off a little sunset. Let him go.

Fiction

His books of fiction include "An Iron Harvest" (2006), "Lost and Found" (2010) and "Hadal" (2015). His novel "One Love and the Many Lives of Osip B", was released in July 2021.

Screenplay

Surendran is also a screenplay writer, having written scripts for

Gour Hari Dastaan ''Gour Hari Dastan – The Freedom File'' is a 2015 Indian, biographical film on freedom fighter Gour Hari Das, directed by Anant Mahadevan. The film starred Vinay Pathak, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey and Tannishtha Chatterjee, among other ...

, which was released in 2014 and "Mai Ghat" (2019) which was screened online at the 73rd ''

Festival de Cannes The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around t ...

''.

Bibliography

Novels * ''An Iron Harvest'' (Indiaink) * '' Lost And Found'' ( HarperCollins, 2010) * '' Hadal'' (HarperCollins 2015) * '' One Love and the Many Lives of Osip B'' (Niyogi Books) Poetry * ''Gemini II'' (Penguin Viking) * ''Posthumous Poems'' (Penguin Viking) * ''Canaries On The Moon'' (Yeti Press) * ''Portraits Of The Space We Occupy'' (HarperCollins) * ''Available Light: New and Collected Poems'' (HarperCollins) Screenplay * ''Gour Hari Dastaan'' (2014) * ''Mai Ghat'' (2019)

References

External links

* Hi
poetry review
got featured in

encyclopedia.com ''Encyclopedia.com'' is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information, images, and videos from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works. History The website was launched by Infonautics in March 1998. Infonautics w ...

by Bruce King
Review of ''An Iron Harvest''
from ''Biblio'' by

Vinod Jose Vinod K. Jose, or Vinod Kizhakkeparambil Joseph, (born 1980) is a journalist, editor, and magazine founder from India. In 2009, Jose was hired by Delhi Press to re-launch the company's 70-year-old title ''The Caravan'', which was discontinued ...

* https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10277744/ * https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4513812/ *https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/surendran-s-book-a-comical-critique-of-society/story-KCiHLE8863hPw4n5js5POO.html *https://www.thecommononline.org/september-2018-poetry-feature-cp-surendran/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Surendran, C. P. Academic staff of the University of Calicut Poets from Kerala Indian male novelists English-language poets from India Living people 1958 births Indian male poets