Ponkunnam Varkey

Ezhuthachan Puraskaram 1997 Lalithambika Sahitya Award 2002 Ponkunnam Varkey (Malayalam: പൊൻകുന്നം വർക്കി; 1 July 1910 – 2 July 2004) was a writer and activist from Kerala, India. Varkey was one of the pioneers of the progressive writers' forum and literary writers' co-operative in Kerala. He was the president of Kerala Sahitya Akademi and Sahithya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society. Varkey has said that his childhood was not a protected one, but based on the dictum of the survival of the fittest. While studying in school, he was attracted to Indian independence movement and the subject matter of his early writings was related to this theme. After high school studies he passed the Malayalam 'Vidwaan' examination; the then prevalent qualifying test for language teachers and joined a Catholic school, near Ponkunnam. But his relationship with the management was unpleasant and he left the institution when he was appointed teacher at the Vernacular Middle School in Pampady in 1942. Soon he resigned this job and jumped into the freedom struggle and was imprisoned.