Koyamparambath Satchidanandan was born in 1946 in Pulloot, a village in
Kodungallur in the
Thrissur District of Kerala.[6]
After his early education in a village school, he was graduated in biology from the
Christ College, Irinjalakuda, and had his Masters in English from
Maharaja's College, Ernakulam. He obtained his PhD in post-structuralist poetics from the
University of Calicut. He joined as a lecturer in English at K.K.T.M. Govt. College, Pulloot in 1968, and moved to
Christ College, Irinjalakuda, in 1970 where he became a professor of English. He voluntarily retired from this post in 1992 to take up the editorship of Indian Literature, the English journal of the Indian National Academy in Delhi. In 1996 he was nominated Secretary, the chief executive, of the academy, a post from which he retired in 2006. Later he served as a Consultant to the Indian Government's Department of Higher Education and to the National Translation Mission. He also worked as Director, School of Translation Studies[7] and Training at the
Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi.[8] He edited 'The Katha Library of Indian Literature', 'The Library of South Asian Literature' and Beyond Borders, a journal of South Asian literature and ideas.
Satchidanandan's literary career began with the publication of 'Kurukshetram', a collection of essays on poetry (1970) and 'Anchusooryan', a collection of poems (1971). Since then he has published several books of poetry, criticism, plays, travelogues and translations of poetry and plays and edited several magazines like 'Jwala', 'Uttaram' and 'Pachakkutira' besides many anthologies of poetry and essays in Malayalam, English, Hindi and Slovenian. He has represented India at several national and international literary events like Valmiki World Poetry Festival (Delhi,1985), Sarajevo Poetry Days (1985), Festival of India in the USSR (1988), Printemps des Poetes, France (2003), Berlin Literary Festival (2005), Frankfurt Book fair (2005, 2006), Paris Book fair (2007), Jaipur International Literary Festival (2008, 9, 10, 11,12), London Book fair (2009), Indo-Arab Literary Festival, Abu Dhabi (2008), Blue Metropolis Literary Festival, Montreal (20110, Hay Festival, Trivandrum, 2011) Rotterdam Poetry Festival (2012), Medellin Poetry Festival (2013), Festival of India in Latin America (2013), Sharjah Book fair (2013) and Vilenica Literary Festival, Slovenia (2014, 2015). This is besides readings in Lahore, Manchester, Dubai, Damascus, Aleppo, Bonn, Rome, Madrid, Avila, Segovia and all major cities in India. One of the most widely anthologised and translated of modern poets in India, he has 32 books of poems in 18 languages. He was given the Indo-Polish Friendship Medal by the Government of Poland in 2005 and the
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2006.[9] He was in the Ladbroke list of Nobel probables in 2011.[3][10][11] A film on him, 'Summer Rain' was released in 2007.[12]
Satchidanandan is a National Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Simla. He co-edits two on-line journals, Guftugu and 1 Over the 8th. His poems appeared in many prestigious poetry anthologies like Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry,[13]The Dance of the Peacock.[14][15]
He worked from 1996 to 2006, as the secretary of
Sahitya Akademi. He returned to teaching after retiring from Sahitya Akademi, and worked as Director and Professor of the School of Translation Studies and Training at the Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi until 2011.[16]
Matra Ata Sparsatei Barasun Diya Megh (Poems,
Assamese Language, Compiled and translated by Utpal Datta, published by Publication Board, Assam, Guwahati, 2013
Herai Jowa Bastubor aru ananya kabita (Poems,
Assamese Language, translated by Utpal Datta, published by Sahitya akademi, 2019, translation of his akademi award-winning book Misplaced Objects and other poems.
" Mathrubhumi" Weekly, a festschrift on Satchidanandan
" Alilayum Nelkkatirum" (The Banyan Leaf and the Cornstalk), Studies on Sachidanandan's Poetry ed. P. Suresh
In English
Malayalam Literary Survey : Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Trichur (Article ‘Under the Bodhi Tree : A Study of the Images of Thathagatha in Satchidanandan's poems’ by A. R. Vijayaraghavan
Making it New : IIAS, Shimla 1995 :
E. V. Ramakrishnan (Chapter ‘Living on the Faultline : The Poetry of Satchidanandan; with Interview)
Indian Review of Books, Chennai, 8 Dec–Jan.1998–99. Review Article, ‘Sensitive Reflections’ by Pramod Menon
The Book Review, Delhi, April 2001, Review Article, ‘The Dialectic of Poetry’ by E. V. Ramakrishnan
World Literature Today, Minnesota, Spring 2002, Review Article, ‘So Many Births’ by John Oliver Perry
Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 4 Oct 2003, Article ‘Reminiscences of a Poet’ by Lakshmee Rajeev
GBD’s of Assam Letters, Guwahati, 2004, Article ‘Reflection’s on Life’ by Jaykanta Sharma
How To Go To The Tao Temple, Delhi, 1998, ‘Modernism and Beyond’, Interview by Makarand Paranjape
The Gulf Today, Dubai, 24 May 2001, ‘Packaging Exotic Life’, Article by Rajeev Poduval
The Creative Mind, Delhi, July–Sept. 2004, ‘Master Magician in Literature’, Interview and article by Sujata Chowdhuri
About Poetry, About Life, Author's essay on his life and work in While I Write (Harper-Collins, Delhi, 2011)
A Conversation with Satchidanandan (Interview with Rizio Raj) in Misplaced Objects and Other Poems (
Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 2014)[50]
In German
Literatur Nachrichten, Frankfurt, February 2006 ‘Auch nach Tagore line Mange intelligentes Schariben’, Interview
Ich Glaube Nicht An Grenzen, Frankfurt, 2006, Introduction, Interview
In French
Visions et révisions (Introduction); Genèse; L'homme qui se souvenait de tout; in Digraphe no. 80/81, 1997
Les survivants; in Europe vol. 80, no. 883–884, 2002
Tant de vies: L’incomplet et autres poèmes, Editions Caractères, Paris, 2002, introd. et trad. Martine Chemana
Ragmala – Anthologie, Anne Cestaing (ed.) L'Asiathèque – Langues & Mondes, Paris, 2005: Introd. article and Extract
In Italian
India, Rome, 2002, 2 Article, ‘Poesia di Satchidanandan’ by Antonio Menniti Ippolito
I Riti Della Terra, Castelvecchi, Rome, Feb. 2005, Introduction ‘Tradurre Versi’ by Giulia Gatti
^Disha Global (24 January 2019).
Summer Rain (Video) (in Malayalam). Vol. A biographic documentary on K. Satchidanandan. Moksh Films. 42.12 minutes in.
^Saccidānandan (2001). So many births : three decades of poetry. New Delhi: Konark Publishers.
ISBN8122006035.
OCLC47667474.
^K., Satchidanandan (2011). While I Write : new and selected poems. [Place of publication not identified]: Harpercollins India.
ISBN978-9350290385.
OCLC941026657.