Ponnampet (Kodagu): Poet and writer Vijay Nambisan (64), who became the first All India Poetry Champion in 1988, passed away at Halligattu near Coorg Institute of Technology (CIT) here yesterday. He is survived by his writer-wife Dr. Kaveri Nambisan. The couple had settled down in Halligattu village.

His body was shifted to Bengaluru as his family members lived there. The last rites were held last evening at a crematorium on Sarjapur Road.

Nambisan loved places with green cover and had settled down in Halligattu village that has a lush green backdrop. Kaveri Nambisan is the daughter of Cheppudira M. Poonacha, the Chief Minister of Coorg ‘C’ State who went on to become Union Railway Minister and Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. Her brother C.P. Belliappa is also a well-known writer in English.

Kaveri Nambisan had attended the Mysuru Literary Festival at Senate Bhavan on June 18 and after participating in the festival, she had to rush back to attend to her ailing husband.

Vijay Nambisan co-authored Gemini, a poetry book, with Jeet Thayil and Dom Moraes. He championed the ethical use of language and made an appeal to readers, writers and enthusiasts of literature in his book ‘Language as an Ethic’.

His poem ‘Madras Central’ garnered rave reviews from critics as well as the others, for which he went on to win the All India Poetry Competition organised by the Poetry Society of India in association with the British Council.