K. K. Gangadharan was born on March 10, 1949, in Pathanadukka in present-day Kasaragod district of Kerala.
[3] Working in various places in Karnataka as a Railway Mail Service officer increased his connection with the Kannada language.
Gangadharan began his literary career by writing a few stories and poems in Kannada under the guidance of Amruth Someswaran, a former professor at Vivekananda College.
Gangadharan also translated stories by prominent Malayalam writers such as Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, T. Padmanabhan, Punathil Kunjabdulla, Malayattoor Ramakrishnan, U. K. Kumaran, etc.
[4] He also translated the biography of Kerala politician E. K. Nayanar and the autobiography of actress Shakeela into Kannada.
[4] Translated stories by Malayalam writers have also been published in Kannada publications such as Tharanga, Mayura, Sudha and Thushara.
[8][4] The translation of Prabhakaran Pazhassi's story Bharameriya Pezhs is included in the Kannada medium ninth class textbook of Kerala.
[4] Gangadharan received the Government of Karnataka's Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradhikara Award in 2010 and 2017.