Edasseri Govindan Nair (; 23 December 1906 – 16 October 1974) was an Indian poet and playwright of Malayalam literature. Known as one of the major poets of Malayalam, Edasseri was a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry. He was also a recipient of Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram, which was awarded posthumously. Biography Edasseri Govindan Nair was born on December 23, 1906 at Kuttippuram, in Malapuram district in the south Indian state of Kerala to P. Krishna Kurup and Edasseri Kunjukutti Amma in a family with poor financial means. He did not have much formal education due to the death of his father in 1921 when he was only 15 years old and started his career early as an assistant to a relative, who worked in Alappuzha. However, he compensated for the lack of formal education with hard work with voracious reading, learning Sanskrit and English on his own taking help from his friends, constantly engaging in debates on literature, criticism, science, astronomy and even astrology. He spent 7 years in Alleppey before moving to Kozhikode. In early 1930, he moved to Ponani. It was during this time that he married Janaki Amma, the wedding taking place in 1938. He continued with his learning, debates and discussions in Ponani also. Edasseri was associated with various literary and cultural forums. He sat in the general council of Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi and Samastha Kerala Sahitya Parishad and was a member of the board of directors of the Sahithya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society. He presided Kerala Sahithya Samithi and Kendra Kala Samithi during various periods and was instrumental in founding a local library, Krishna Panikkar Vayana Sala. Edasseri's works include 19 books and over 300 poems in 10 anthologies, 6 books of plays and a collection of essays. He was among the poets who changed the romantic traits of Malayalam poetry to realism. His narrative style, as shown in his poems such as Poothapattu, Panimudakkam, Kalyana Pudava, Karutha Chettichikal and Kavile Pattu, was reported to reflect strong humanism. Govindan Nair - Janaki Amma couple had eleven children, though only eight survived infancy. He died on October 16, 1974, at the age of 67. Awards Edasseri received two awards from the Government of Tamil Nadu (the known as Government of Madras), the first one for his play, Koottukrishi and the other, for his