(1) &  (2) Lopa receiving O. V. Vijayan Award 2017

Lopa is a poet and a teacher. It’s an uncommon blend. A 2012 Sahitya Award Yuva Puraskar winner, Lopamudra Renuka urges poets to probe, and question those untouched, unapproached paradigms of human tapestry. She has been conquering hearts with her unique poetry style --- which is a blend of classicism and contemporariness. This was pointed out by poet Vijayalakshmi for the first time in an article that appeared in the Mathrubhoomi Malayalam newspaper in 2000 when Lopa was barely 20 years old. Vijayalakshmi  and other well-known poets N V Krishna Warrier, M T Vasudevan Nair too were in the panel of judges who selected Lopamudra’s poem. Lopa won the first prize for her poem ‘Manasu’ (mind) in this competition. She was pursuing her Masters at Bishop Moor College that year. Lopa’s poem touched the poet Vijayalakshmi  that the latter even wrote a poem on Lopa titled “Lopakku” (For Lopa) the following year, which also a became the title of Vijayalakshmi’s biography called “Lopakku.”  This was a life-changing moment for Lopa.

Born in Harippad 1978 April 26, Ayaparambu Kottaram, she is the daughter of late Muralidharan and Renuka. She inherited the poetic charm from her grandfather R K Kottarathil, who too was a poet and introduced her granddaughter to the world of poetry and expression. But tragedy struck the family when Lopa lost her father, when she was barely three-years-old. Her father died very young at age 32. Lopa’s mother and grandparents had been a great support throughout her life.

She started with writing parody songs--blended with wit and humour- mostly about her friends. But inside she was punctured by the grief suffered from the loss of her father. She would often turn into a recluse, and in private, she would write poems expressing her sorrow emanating from the loss. She is married to Manoj Haripad (Kaarikkaamadom) and has a son named Harishankar.

Lopa serves as an English teacher at the Alagappa Nagar Panchayat Government Higher Secondary School in Thrissur. Most of her poems these days are based on pressing social issues.

Sasikumar Menon Achuvath, who is the proprietor of Keerthi Films, commented about Lopa that her poems hold the proud history of Malayalam poetry with its traditional roots. The tone and rhythm which Lopa’s poem holds gives a uniqueness and varied her writing from the new-generation poets.

(1) Lopa's poem collection - Vaikolppava     (2) 'Where the mind is'  (3) 'Randu Rajyangal, boopadathil' - published in newspaper

Lopa believes strongly that poets and their works are not meant to be elevated to massive bookshelves. She has been actively participating in movements pertaining to equal rights for men and women in the government employment sector and has been at the forefront when raising voice through her articles in ‘Navamalayali Magazine’  against government rules that tend to be discriminatory towards talented people in their respective fields.  Lopa’s articles on social issues are equally captivating. It focuses on philosophical thoughts that ask existential questions and one such article was on flood and how the people in Kuttanad were affected by it.  In this article the author masterfully establishes the trustworthiness as an observer but to report as accurately as possible, the life and the sufferings caused due to the floods. She ends one such article quoting JM Synge’s Riders to the Sea, where the mother challenges the Sea, “What else can you do to me?”

Most of her poems are a reminder, constantly drawing the attention of the reader towards responsibilities towards social issues. Her poem ‘Where the mind is’ published in 2016 in a regional newspaper Deshabhimani, is an example worth citing. Her another poem ‘Atmahatyayude Divasom’ (On The Day of the Suicide) in which a Malayalam ‘Kavita’ (poem) the character, homing on the message that nothing is eternal.

(1) &  (2)  Lopa attending the  Sahitya Silpasala Inaugration, Dubai