Syam Sudhakar
Syam Sudhakar
Winner of the Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2022, Syam Sudhakar is a bilingual poet who grew up in the Palakkad district of Kerala, India. Writing in both English and his native tongue, Malayalam, Syam has been widely published in a number of other languages, including Chinese, Hebrew, French, Italian, German, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. Earpam (Damp), Avasanathe Kollimeen (The Last Meteor) and Kadalinte Kavalkkaran (Keeper of the Sea) in Malayalam, Drenched by the Sun and Cat in the City in English, Slicing the Moon (a bilingual video rendering), Syam Sudhakar Kavithaikal (Poems of Syam Sudhakar) in Tamil and Samudrer Prahari in Bengali, are his major poetry collections. Other works have been published both online and offline, and he has also edited and translated several works from English to Malayalam. His forthcoming books include Muziris, an English poetry collection, and Malu the Astronaut, a work of children’s fiction. K. Satchidanandan notably points out the linguistic and thematic diversity contained in Syam Sudhakar’s poetry. His writing consistently engages with myths, legends, and fairy tales, often exploring spaces of magic realism that evoke a sense of imaginative discovery. He is the editor of the academic journal titled Conspectus: A Journal of English Studies. He is also one of the founder members of the centre for Performance Research and Cultural Studies in South Asia and the Poetry Advisor of Sydney School of Arts and Humanities. He has participated in numerous poetry readings, both at home and abroad, including the 5th Larnaka World Poetry Festival in Cyprus, 9th Athens World Poetry Festival in Greece and the Brisbane Poetry Festival in Sydney, Australia, and was a Writer-in-Residence at The International Writers’ and Translators’ House, Ventspils, Latvia. Holding a PhD in English Literature from the University of Madras, Syam is presently based in Kerala, researching and teaching English Literature at St. Thomas College, Thrissur, Kerala.
