K. S. Narasimhaswamy

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Dr. K. S. Narasimhaswamy (Kannada: ಡಾ. ಕೆ.ಎಸ್. ನರಸಿಂಹಸ್ವಾಮಿ) KSN, affectionately known as K. S. Na (January 26, 1915 - December 27, 2003) was a famous poet who wrote in the Kannada language. Born in Kikkeri, Mandya district, he studied in Mysore and Central College in Bangalore, India.

His romantic love poems, inspired by Robert Burns (whose work he translated to Kannada as Robert Burnsna Premageetegalu-1997), were unique to the language at a time when most Kannada poetry dealt with nature and the natural world. He is considered to be part of the Navodaya movement in Kannada literature. By virtue of his innovative 'simple Kannada' poetry, KSN was able to bring Kannadic poetry to a broad audience.

His most prominent work, Mysoora Mallige (Mysore Jasmin), published in 1942, was made into a movie, which won the National Academy award. The film, directed by the award-winning T.S. Nagabharana, was the first to be built with KSN's songs as a primary source material. C. Ashwath, a renowned singer and music director in the field of Kannada light music (or Sugama Sangeetha, as it is popularly known) composed the score for the one-of-a-kind movie. 'Rayaru Bandaru', a popular song from the film, can be heard in one form or another in nearly every house in Karnataka.

KSN received many awards and recognitions, including the prestigious 'Pampa' award for Kannada literature (given by the Government of Karnataka) for his poetry collection 'Dundu Mallige' in 1997. He was the president of the 60th Akhila Bharata Kannada Saahitya Sammelana held in Mysore in 1989, and received the Kendra Saahitya Akademi award for 'Tereda Baagilu' in 1978. He was also conferred an honorary doctorate by Bangalore University.