Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of work comprised over 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were all translated into several Indian and foreign languages.
Kartar Singh Duggal was an Indian writer who wrote in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, and English. His works include short stories, novels, dramas and plays. His works have been translated into Indian and foreign languages. He has served as director of the All India Radio.
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the 8th Schedule to the Indian constitution as well as in English and Rajasthani language.
Rajinder Singh Bedi was an Indian Urdu writer of the progressive writers' movement and a playwright, who later worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer and he is grandfather to Rajat Bedi and Manek Bedi.
Prem Parkash is a writer from Punjab, India. He "is one of the major short story writers in post-1947 East Punjabi literature." He is also known as Prem Parkash Khannvi.
Rana Nayar is a translator of poetry and short fiction from Punjabi to English. He has more than forty volumes of poetry and translation works to his credit. He is also a theatre artist and has participated in a number of major full-length productions. He won Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee prize for his English translation of the Punjabi devotional poetry of Saint Baba Farid.
Krishna Sobti was an Indian Hindi-language fiction writer and essayist. She won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980 for her novel Zindaginama and in 1996, was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest award of the Akademi. In 2017, she received the Jnanpith Award for her contribution to Indian literature.
Punjabi literature, specifically literary works written in the Punjabi language, is characteristic of the historical Punjab of present-day Pakistan and India and the Punjabi diaspora. The Punjabi language is written in several scripts, of which the Shahmukhi and Gurmukhī scripts are the most commonly used in Western Punjab and Eastern Punjab, respectively.
Shiv Kumar Batalvi was an Punjabi poet, writer and playwright of the Punjabi language. He was most known for his romantic poetry, noted for its heightened passion, pathos, separation and lover's agony, due to that he was also called Birha Da Sultan. He is also called 'Keats of Punjab'.
Gurdial Singh Rahi was an Indian writer and novelist who wrote in Punjabi. He started his literary career in 1957 with a short story, "Bhaganwale." He became known as a novelist when he published the novel Marhi Da Deeva in 1964. The novel was later adapted into the Punjabi film Marhi Da Deeva in 1989, directed by Surinder Singh. His novel Anhe Ghore Da Daan was also made into a film of the same name in 2011 by director Gurvinder Singh. Singh was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1998 and Jnanpith Award in 1999.
Gulzar Singh Sandhu is a prominent Punjabi language writer. He won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, for his short story collection, Amar Katha in 1982. Among other awards he was also the recipient of International Association of Authors, Playwrights and Artists of Canada in 1992 and Shiromani Punjabi Sahityakar Puraskar from the Education Department of Punjab in 2001.
Dalip Kaur Tiwana was one of the foremost novelists and short-story writers of contemporary Punjabi literature. She won awards, both regional and national, and was a widely translated author. She retired as Professor of Punjabi, and Dean, from Punjabi University, Patiala. She is widely credited as a tour-de-force in the creation of the contemporary literature in the Punjabi language.
Ajeet Cour is an Indian writer who writes in Punjabi. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India.
Sant Singh Sekhon (1908–1997) was an Indian playwright and fiction writer associated with Punjabi literature. He is part of the generation of Indian authors who mark the transition of India into an independent nation, scarred by the tragedies of partition.
Sujan Singh was a story writer of Punjab, India.
Baldev Singh, also known as Baldev Singh Sadaknaama, is an Indian novelist and story writer in Punjabi-language. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award 2011 for his novel Dhahwan Dilli De Kingre. As of 2012, he has written 55 novels and various short stories and plays.
Mohan Bhandari was a Punjabi writer who received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1998, but later returned it in 2015.
Dr. Harcharan Singh (1914–2006) was an Indian dramatist and writer in the Punjabi language. He dedicated 69 years of his life to Punjabi theater, in which he authored 51 books and staged numerous plays all over the world.
Sohinder Singh Wanjara Bedi (1924-2001) was a Punjabi folklorist and a British Indian born in Sialkot, a city now part of Pakistan.
Kirpal Kazak is a Punjabi writer. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2019 for his short-story collection Antheen.
