Kesari Balakrishna Pillai

Kesari Balakrishna Pillai
Statue of Balakrishna Pillai at Pulimoodu junction, Thiruvananthapuram
Born	(1889-04-23)23 April 1889 Thampanoor, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Died	18 December 1960(1960-12-18) (aged 71)
Occupation	Writer, literary critic, journalist
Nationality	Indian
Notable works	Kesariyude Lokangal Navalokam Outlines of the Proto-Historic Chronology of Western Asia Sankethika Nirupanangal Sahitya Nirupanangal Rupamanjari
Spouse	Madavanapparambil Gauri Amma
Relatives	Akathoot Damodaran Kartha (father) Parvathy Amma (mother)

Akathoot Balakrishna Pillai (1889–1960), better known as Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, was a Malayalam writer, art and literary critic and journalist, considered by many as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Kerala. He was the eponymous founder of the newspaper, Kesari and was one of the three major figures in modern Malayalam literary criticism, along with Joseph Mundassery and M. P. Paul. Besides works such as Kesariyude Lokangal, Navalokam, Sankethika Nirupanangal Sahitya Nirupanangal, Rupamanjari, he also wrote a text in English under the title, Outlines of the Proto-Historic Chronology of Western Asia.