Thomas Joseph (8 June 1954 – 29 July 2021) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. He received

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story The Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story is an award given every year by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy) to Malayalam writers for writing a narrative, story of literary merit. It is one of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award#A ...

in 2013 for his work, ''Marichavar Cinema KaanukayaaNu'' (The Dead are Watching Movies). He was also a recipient of SBT Literary Award, Delhi Short Story Award, K. A. Kodungallore Award, V. P. Sivakumar memorial Keli Award and the Children's literary institute Award. He died on 29 July 2021, at the age of 67.

Biography

Thomas Joseph was born on 8 June 1954, in

Eloor Eloor is a suburb of Kochi and a municipality in Paravur Taluk, Ernakulam District in the Indian state of Kerala, India. It is an industrial area situated around north of the city centre. It is an island of 14.21 km2 formed between two d ...

, an industrial town in Ernakulam district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Thomas Vadaykkal and Mary Vellayil. He wrote his first short story when he was a 5th standard student and started publishing stories in Malayalam weeklies during his high school and college period. He published his first collection of short stories, ''Athbhuta-samasya'', in 1989. His ''Chitra-salabhangalude Kappal'' (''The Ship of Butterflies''), short stories collection, was awarded the SBT Literary Award in 1996. His story "Athbhuta-samasya", was published in the magazine ''Saketam'', under the editorialship of

Narendra Prasad Raghava Kurup Narendra Prasad (26 December 1946 3 November 2003) was an Indian actor, playwright, director, teacher and literary critic. He was born at Mavelikkara in the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore. Appreciated for his body language a ...

and

V. P. Sivakumar Vazhappilliyil Padmanabhan Nair Sivakumar (1947–1993), commonly identified as V. P. Sivakumar, was an Indian writer and translator, known for bringing in a new sensibility in Malayalam literature through his short stories. Besides four short s ...

. He published eight books, which include six collections of short stories.

Death

Thomas Joseph worked at '' Chandrika'' and ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

'' daily newspapers and in Pen books. Towards the latter part of his life, he resided at

Keezhmad Keezhmad is a village in Aluva. It is located 3 km from Aluva town, between the parallel Aluva – Perumbavoor roads, the KSRTC route along the Periyar river and "private" route that passes through Choondy and Chunangamveli. It is also the h ...

Aluva Aluva () is a Municipalities of Kerala, municipality and a northern suburb of the city of Kochi in Kerala. It is located about north of the city centre. Aluva is known for the Aluva Sivarathri festival, Sivarathri festival, which is celebra ...

and it was here, he suffered a massive

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

while asleep on 15 September 2018, due to which he was admitted to Rajagiri hospital in

Kalamassery Kalamassery () is a major industrial region in the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. It is located around northeast of the city centre. Kalamassery is a major hub for industrial and Information Technology, IT activities in Kochi. In ...

. Due to limited financial resources, his family could not afford the expenses of the medical treatment and his friends and fellow writers resorted to

crowd funding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial ...

to raise the required money. Though later discharged, he stayed in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

for around three years before his death at his home on 29 July 2021, aged 67.

Awards and honors

Thomas Joseph received Mrigaya magazine’s ‘Mrigaya Award-1984’ through the Readers’ Gallup poll . He was also the recipient of Delhi Short Story Award, K. A. Kodungallore Award (1995), V. P. Sivakumar memorial Keli Award (2003) and the Children's literary institute Award (2009). His short story collection, ''Marichavar cinema kaaNukayaaNu'' (''The Dead are Watching Movies'') received the

in 2013.

Bibliography

Novels

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Short story anthologies

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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Thomas 1954 births 2021 deaths Writers from Kerala People from Aluva Writers from Ernakulam district 20th-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian novelists Malayali people Malayalam-language novelists Malayalam short story writers Indian male novelists Indian male short story writers 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian short story writers