M. P. Narayana Pillai
M. P. Narayana Pillai (1939–1998) was a renowned Malayalam writer and journalist from Kerala. Born on 22 November 1939 in Pulluvazhy, near Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, he was affectionately called Nanappan by friends. He studied locally, did Pre-University at Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, and earned a BSc in agricultural science from Banaras Hindu University. He started his career as a telephone operator at the East German consulate in Delhi, then worked as an economic investigator at the Central Planning Commission for five years.
In 1967, he moved to Hong Kong to work as assistant editor for the Far Eastern Economic Review, and returned to India in 1970 to head publications for the Mumbai-based Commerce Group. He later worked with McGraw-Hill World News, Minerals and Metals Review, and the Malayalam weekly Kalakaumudi, and served as CEO of the Asian Industries Information Center. He also helped start Gulf Malayalee, a magazine for Malayali expatriates in the Gulf.
Pillai wrote mainly short stories and one novel. His best-known novel is Parinamam (The Evolution). Notable stories include Murugan Enna Pambatti and George Aaramante Kodathi. He published his stories in several anthologies and began writing in Delhi after meeting Kakkanadan.
He is regarded as one of Malayalam fiction’s finest writers. In 1991 he won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel for Parinamam, but he declined the prize and asked that the money be deposited in the state treasury. He could not finish his second novel, Hanuman Seva; it was later completed by Punathil Kunjabdulla. His memoir is Avasanathe Pathuroopanottu. He died on 19 May 1998 in Mumbai, at the age of 58. He was married to Prabha Pillai, editor of Economic and Political Weekly, and they had two sons, Balakrishna Pillai and Madhavankutty Pillai. The M. P. Narayana Pillai Memorial Short Story Award, with prize money of ₹50,000, is given annually by Samakalika Malayalam Varika in his memory.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:01 (CET).