P. F. Mathews

Poovankery Francis Mathew is an Indian author of Malayalam literature and a screenplay writer in Malayalam film and Television industries. A Winner of a National Film Award for Best Screenplay and multiple State television and other literary awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel, he is known for his original style of writing. Literary works such as Muzhakkam, Kadalinte Manam, Adiyalapretham, Iruttil Oru Punyalan, and Chaavunilam and screenplays such as Sararaanthal, Mikhayelinte Santhathikal, Megham, Kutty Srank and Ee.Ma.Yau are his major works. Mathews was born in a Latin Christian family on 18 February 1960 in Ernakulam, Kerala to Poovankery Francis and Mary Francis. After his early schooling in Don Bosco School and St. Augustine's School, Kochi, he graduated in economics from St. Albert's College Kochi, in 1980 and secured his master's degree in Malayalam in 1982. He started writing at the age of 10 when he used to write and direct one- act plays. He took to short stories at the age of 16 and his short stories have been published in leading Malayalam publications like Malayala Manorama, Kalakaumudi, Mathrubhumi, Madhyamam and Bhashaposhini. He spent his regular career at Advocate General's Office of the High Court of Kerala from where he superannuated in 2016. His first short story anthology, Njayarazhcha Mazha Peyyukayayirunnu (It Was Raining on Sunday), was published in 1986 by Current Books. His second work was a novel, Chaavunilam (Land of the Dead), based on the coastal life in Kochi and published in 1996 by DC Books, which won the State Bank of Travancore award for the best novel. Subsequent years produced two more short story collections, Jalakanyakayum Gandarvanum (the Mermaid and the Celestial Lover) and 2004il Alice (Alice in 2004). In 2013, a short story anthology, Kathakal (Stories), and his memoirs, Theerajeevithathinu Oru Oppees (A Requiem for the Coastal Life), were published. His second novel, Iruttil Oru Punyalan (A Saint Shrouded in Darkness), was published in 2015, and two of its chapters were published by Mathrubhumi weekly, prior to the official release of the book. The book has since been translated into Tamil, under the title, Iruttil Oru Punithan, by P. S. Ramesh.