Narayana Bhattathiri was born in Cherumuka village near Pandalam in Kerala. After his primary education, he graduated in painting from College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram. In 1982, he became an artist at Kalakaumudi Publications and subsequently became the first artist to receive the title of calligrapher in Malayalam. He has been constantly fascinated by the Malayalam letters for nearly forty years. He has also conducted Calligraphy exhibitions at various venues across Kerala, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. He has also presented research papers and conducted workshops at the annual International TypoDay Conferences, and been invited to take part in several calligraphy exhibitions and conferences held in India and abroad. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, he won the award in the Jikji memorial International Calligraphy exhibitions held in South Korea, and thereby became the first Indian to win these awards. Bhattathiri's Malayalam calligraphy has been installed at the Calligraphy Stone Park in China. He is the Director of India's only International Festival of Calligraphy (ICFK), and the Chairman of the KaChaTaThaPa Foundation, established for the promotion and study of calligraphy in Kerala.