- Malayalam literature witnessed a golden moment when the Jnanpith Award was handed over to poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri.
- Akkitham became the sixth writer to bring Jnanpith Award to Malayalam literature.
- Akkitham is the only living poet being called Mahakavi (great poet) in Malayalam.
- Akkitham has contributed such seminal works as Pathalathinte Muzhakkam, Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam, and Balidarshanam.
- He has nearly four dozen works to his credit.
- Among them are anthologies of poems, stories, dramas and essays.
- Jnanpith Award is an Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their “outstanding contribution towards literature”.
- Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and English, with no posthumous conferral.
