Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world with approximately 113 million native speakers.
Sayyid Abdullah Shah Qadri, known popularly as Baba Bulleh Shah and Bulleya, was a 17th and 18th-century Punjabi revolutionary philosopher, reformer and a Sufi poet, universally regarded as the "Father of Punjabi Enlightenment". He spoke against powerful religious, political and social institutions. He lived and was buried in Kasur.
Sultan Bahu, was a 17th-century Punjabi Sufi mystic, poet, scholar and historian. He was active in the Punjab region during the reigns of Mughal emperors Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.
Anwar Masood is a Pakistani poet and educationist known for his comic poetry. However, his works include other genres as well. He writes in Punjabi, Urdu, and Persian languages.
Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, was a 20th-century poet. His pen name was Tabassum.
Lahore Grammar School (LGS), established in 1979, is a private preparatory school in Pakistan affiliated with the Cambridge Board of International Examinations, with several branches throughout the country. Lahore Grammar School's slogan, "علم سے دل و دماغ روشن" translates to "heart and mind enlightened by knowledge".
Shah Hussain, also known as Madhoo Lal Hussain, was a 16th-century Punjabi Sufi poet who is regarded as a pioneer of the Kafi form of Punjabi poetry. He lived during the ruling periods of Mughal emperors Akbar and his son Jahangir.
Munir Ahmed Niazi, was a Pakistani poet of the Punjabi and Urdu languages. He also wrote for newspapers, magazines and radio. In 1960, he established a publication institute, Al-Misal. He was later associated with Pakistan Television, Lahore and lived in Lahore till his death.
Sharif Kunjahi was a leading writer and poet of Punjabi. He was among the first faculty members of the Department of Punjabi Language at University of Punjab in the 1970s and contributed to Punjabi literature as a poet, prose writer, teacher, research scholar, linguist, lexicographer and translator.
Mir Tanha Yousufi was a Pakistani Punjabi and Urdu writer, best known for his Punjabi literature. He produced two short story collections and five novels in Punjabi. Most of his work was transliterated in Gurumukhi script in Indian Punjab. Besides his Punjabi works, he was a well known Urdu and Punjabi poet.
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.
Fakhar Zaman was the chairman of the Pakistan Academy of Letters from 11 May 2008 to 12 March 2012, when Abdul Hameed replaced him as the next appointed chairman of the body. A leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the chairman of the World Punjabi Congress, he has also been playing a notable role in politics to achieve his sociopolitical ideals.
Muhammad Afzal Ahsan Randhawa was a Pakistani Punjabi language writer, poet, translator, playwright and a politician. He authored several short stories and novels in the Punjabi language including Sooraj Grehan and Doaba.
Mirza Adeeb:مرزا ادیب,, also known as Meerza Adeeb,, was a Pakistani dramatist, playwright and short story writer who wrote in Urdu and Punjabi language. His plays and short stories won him six prizes and awards from the Pakistan Writers' Guild.
Independent Theatre Pakistan is a Pakistani theatre company and performing arts organization based in Lahore, Punjab, established in March 2012. The group is directed by founder, writer and director Azeem Hamid. It is the youngest theatre company in continuous production to have performed both internationally and domestically from Pakistan. Since their inception, the group has performed over twenty-five theatrical productions.
Samina Hasan Syed, was a Punjabi-language singer and music teacher. Her music can be found on https://m.soundcloud.com/saminahasansyed She learnt with great masters like Bhai Chhaila, Ustad Chhottay Ghulam Ali Khan of Qawal Bacha Gharana, to name a few. She recorded her singing lessons with Ustad Chhotay Ghulam Ali Khan over a decade. It was her wish to make these accessible to researchers and practitioners of music and so her daughter, Risham Syed, an eminent Visual artist organized these in her memory on https://khayalmala.org/
Shaikh Muhammad Sharif Sabir, better known as Sharif Sabir, was a Pakistani-Punjabi scholar, poet, researcher and educationist who is most known for editing a version of Heer Waris Shah published in 1985. It took him over ten years to complete this work. Sabir had previously written a book of poetry and edited Puran Bhagat of Qadir Yar, and translated parts of Gulistan and Bustan of Saadi Shirazi into Punjabi. He edited Sultan Bahu’s poetry collection Abiat-e-Bahu, Mian Mohammad Bakhsh's Saiful Muluk, the poetry of Bulleh Shah and the poetry of Baba Farid. He also translated Ali Hajweri Gunj Bakhsh’s Kashf ul Mahjoob from Persian to Urdu. He was commissioned by the Punjab Auqaf Department.
Huma Safdar is a teacher, theatre artist, Punjabi language activist and director of feminist theatre “Sangat”. As an artist, she worked with Punjab Lok Rahs. She has taught as art and Punjabi language teacher in Lahore Grammar School. She has contributed a lot to promote Punjabi theatre, literature and folklore.
Nasreen Anjum Bhatti (1943–2016) was a bilingual poet, painter, radio producer and broadcaster, peace and political and rights activist and researcher. Bhatti was a progressive poet who struggled against dictatorship.
