Odayil Ninnu, Nadhi, Bhrandalayam, Ayalkar (Central Academi Award-winning novel), Ethirppu (autobiography) and Oru Sundariyude Athmakadha are some among his 128 literary works.

[1][2] Keshavadev, born Keshava Pillai, on July 21, 1904, at Kedamangalam, a small hamlet near North Paravur, then British Raj, to Appu Pillai-Karthyayani Amma couple.

[3] He had formal education only up to High School levels when he had to abandon it due to financial constraints and take up part-time jobs such as a collection agent, tuition teacher and cloth merchant.

[13] He can be referred to as the first writer to usher in the Renaissance in Malayalam literature, by writing the novel Odayil Ninnu (From the Gutter; 1942) with a rickshaw puller as its hero.

Odayil Ninnu came as a shocking revelation that a finest piece of literature can be produced with commonplace themes and unconventional style of prose with ordinary mortals as heroes and heroines.

Apart from the fact that the appearance of rickshaw puller was a thrilling experience at that time, he was known to have started a new trait in Malayalam literature and many writers followed suit.

[17][18] Rowdy, his next novel, was published in 1958, which was based on the story of an abused orphan, taking to arms in defense against the community, narrated in a sarcastic style.

[3] This novel is acclaimed as the chronicle of the evolution of the three leading communities of the State of Kerala, the Nairs, Christians and Ezhavas from the days of feudalism to the post independent era.

[21] Writing about the tragedy of the disintegration of the two major tharavads – Mangalassery and Pachazhi, Kesavadev recreates their past and also narrates the trials and tribulations paving the way for their total destruction as well as the history of the state for a period of about fifty years from the times of feudalism to the rise of the new era.