Manoj Kuroor is a Malayalam poet and lyricist. Born to chenda exponent Kuroor Cheriya Vasudevan Namboothiri and Sreedevi Andarjanam, he learned Thayambaka and Kathakali melam from his father itself. Since 1989, he has been playing chenda for Kathakali. Manoj was awarded doctorate for his research on folk rhythms in modern Malayalam poetry. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Malayalam at N. S. S. Hindu College, Changanassery. He won the Kunchu Pillai Memorial Award for Young Poets in 1997 for his poem Thrithala Kesavan. A fiction poem named Coma won the Kanakasree Award of Kerala Sahitya Akademi in 2007. Nilam Poothu Malarnna Naal was his much-loved novel.