U. A. KHADAR

U. A. Khadar (1935–2020) was born in the village of Billin in Rangoon in 1935 to a Burmese mother, Mamaidi, and a Malayali father, Moitheenkutty Haji. He worked at All India Radio in Kozhikode, the Institute of Maternal and Child Health at the Medical College, and the Government General Hospital before retiring from government service in 1990. A prolific writer, he authored numerous novels, short story collections, and essays. His major works include Thrikkottur Peruma, which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for short stories in 1984, Aghorashivam, which earned the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for a novel in 2001, Kathapole Jeevitham, recipient of the S. K. Pottekkatt Award in 1993, and Oru Pidi Vattu, which won the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award. His Thrikkottur Novellas won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009. He was also honored with the Kerala Sahitya Parishad Award in 2016 and the Mathrubhumi Literary Award in 2019. He passed away on December 12, 2020.