Hareesh published his first book in 2005, a short story anthology titled Rasavidyayude Charithram ('The History of Alchemy'), which won him the Geetha Hiranyan Endowment Award of Kerala Sahithya Akademi.[2] This was followed by a Malayalam translation of The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, which was published by DC Books in 2012.[7] Four years later, he published his second short story collection titled Aadam, which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award of 2016.[8][9] In 2018, his debut novel, Meesa, was serialised in Mathrubhumi weekly, but he had to withdraw it due to pressures from Hindu right-wing groups.[10] Later, the novel was published in book format by DC Books.[11] The same year, he brought out another short story anthology, Appan.[12]Meesa was translated by Crossword Award winner, Jayasree Kalathil and the book was published under the title, Moustache, by Harper Perennial India in 2020.[13]
The 2018 film Aedan was based on one of the three stories in Hareesh's short story collection Adam.[14] The story Maoist from the collection has been adapted by Lijo Jose Pellissery for his film Jallikattu,[2] the film was India's official entry at the 2020 Academy Awards.[15][16]
He is employed as a village assistant at Kaipuzha in Kottayam.[2]
Awards and recognition
Hareesh won his first major honors in 2008 when he was selected the Geetha Hiranyam Endowment by Kerala Sahitya Akademi for his short story anthology Rasavidyayude Charithram.[17] The next year, he received the Thomas Mundassery Award for short story.[18] He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for the Best Story Writer for his anthology, Adam in 2018.[19] He is also a recipient of the V. P. Sivakumar Memorial Keli Award[20] as well as the Nandanar Award in 2020.[21][22]Aedan, the film based on his short story for which he wrote the screenplay fetched him the Kerala State Film Award for Best Screenplay (adapted) in 2017.[23]
