Nandanar (author)
P. C. Gopalan, popularly known by his pseudonym, Nandanar was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. He was known for his novels and short stories which had the backdrop of the Indian Army barracks of the 1940s and 1950s as well as for his children's literature. Anubhavangal, Ira, Thokkukalkkidayile Jeevitham, Athmavinte Novukal, Ariyappedatha Manushyajeevikal, Anubhoothikalude Lokam and a series of stories with Unnikkuttan as the lead character are some of his better known works. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel in 1964 for his work, Athmavinte Novukal.
Biography
P. C. Gopalan was born on 5 January 1926, in a poor family at Angadippuram, a village near Perinthalmanna in the present-day Malappuram district in the south Indian state of Kerala to Parameshwaran Tharakan and Nanikkutty Amma. His early schooling was at a local elementary school but due to poverty, he had to abandon his studies after 5th standard. He joined the Indian Army in 1942 where he served until his superannuation in 1964 after which he worked for three years as the National Cadet Corps inspector in Mysore. Returning to Kerala, he joined Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore in 1967 as their Public Relations Officer.Nandanar was married to Pandathuveettil Radha and the couple had a son, Sudakaran. He committed suicide on 24 April 1974, at the age of 48, at Commons Lodge, a lodging facility he used to stay at whenever he visited Palakkad, by consuming an overdose of sleeping pills.