Kartar Duggal

Kartar Singh Duggal was born on March 1 1917, in Dhamal, Rawalpindi District, (now in Pakistan) to Mr. Jiwan Singh Duggal and Mrs. Satwant Kaur. He is married to Ayesha Duggal. He received his M.A. Honours in English at Forman Christian College, Lahore.

He is a well versed writer who writes with same ease in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, and English. He outshines in all forms of writings that includes short stories, novels, dramas and plays.

Career

Duggal started his professional career with All India Radio (AIR). He worked there from 1942-66 in various jobs including Station Director. For the AIR, he wrote and produced programmes in Punjabi and other languages. In addition, he authored a large number of plays and dramas. He was the Secretary/Director, National Book Trust, India from 1966-73. From 1973 to 1976, he served as an Information Advisor at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Planning Commission).

He has founded many institutions, including:
*Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation
*Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bangalore
*Zakir Husain Educational Foundation

Duggal had been a member of many literary and cultural centers including being the President of Punjabi Sahitya Sabha (Punjabi Literary Society), Delhi. He was nominated Fellow of the Punjabi University in 1984. He was also honoured with nomination to the Rajya Sabha (Indian Parliament Upper House) in August, 1997.

ome distinguished works

Duggal has authored twenty four collections of short stories, ten novels, seven plays, seven works of literary criticism, two poetry collections and an autobiography. Many of his books have been adopted by various universities for graduate studies. Among his works are:

hort story collections

*"Birth of a Song" (in English)
*"Come Back My Master" (in English)
*"Dangar" (Animal)
*"Ikk Chhit Chananh Di" (One Drop of Light)
*"Nawan Ghar" (New House)
*"Sonar Bangla" (Golden Bungalow)
*"Tarkalan Vele" (In the Evening)

Poetry

*"Veehveen Sadi te Hor Kavitaavaan" (Twentieth Century and Other Poems)
*"Kandhe Kandhe" (Shore Shore)

Novels

*"Sarad Poonam Ki Raat" (A Cold Full Moon Night)
*"Tere Bhanhe" (Your Wishes)

Other works

*Sat Natak (True Nanak) (One-Act Play)
*Band Darwaaze (Closed Doors)
*Mitti Musalmaan Ki (A Muslim’s Earth)

Recognition

Kartar Singh Duggal has been bestowed by many awards throughout his career, including:

*Padma Bhushan
*Sahitya Akademi Award
*Ghalib Award
*Soviet Land Award
*Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award
*Bhai Mohan Singh Vaid Award
*Bhartiya Bhasa Parishad Award
*Punjabi Writer of the Millennium, Award of Government of Punjab
*Bhai Vir Singh Award (1989) presented by the Vice-President of India for outstanding literary contribution
*Praman Patra (1993) presented by the Chief Minister of Punjab for outstanding contribution to Punjabi literature

He is well traveled. He has visited Bulgaria, North Korea, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, the UK and U.S.A.

The Library of Congress has 118 of his works.

He resides in New Delhi and spends his retirement reading.

See also

*Indian literature